You’d think even Alan Pardew would know enough to leave well-enough alone. He still has his job despite going headfirst into an opposing player and his Newcastle United team doing its best to resemble a relegation squad despite top-half standing.
In case you stopped paying attention to Newcastle when their European aspirations dissipated earlier this year, they’ve been simply terrible since selling Yohan Cabaye. A spate of injuries and suspensions haven’t helped, but every team faces injuries.
So with only crosstown Sunderland in worse form than the Magpies -- a Black Cats squad that swept the Tyne-Wear Derby this year, mind you -- Pardew’s best path would be to accept his club’s fate; Newcastle looks awful, lethargic and ready for summer. Wait for the transfer window and hope you’re allowed to buy permanent players for the first time in a few windows.
But no. Here’s where Pardew laid the blame:
Considering the press was banned from the stadium for publishing photos and articles about fan protests of the team, well, that doesn’t seem to play well. So one newspaper has gone to their cover to lay the story out for the manager with a weekend edition.
It’s just not pretty on Tyneside. The club has managed to soil almost all their positives with negatives. They’ve sold the majority of their key assets over time -- from James Milner to Andy Carroll to Yohan Cabaye -- while under-purchasing. After qualifying for Europe a few years back, they ignored the needs of a Europa League schedule and exhaustion nearly cost them their spot in the Premier League. Newcastle followed it up by rehiring an old coach to run the transfer side of things, and Joe Kinnear reintroduce himself by butchering the names of many of his best players while making misleading claims regarding who he had brought to the club in the past.
It’s just not good enough for a club that wants to be among the Premier League’s best. In the beginning of 2013/14, Newcastle was striker depth away from being a legit Top 6 candidate. While injuries to Mathieu Debuchy, Tim Krul, Loic Remy and Moussa Sissoko have made them look much worse than reality, they’ve responded by looking downright pitiful. They’ve been the stamps on the letters being sent to their summer homes.
And all of that could be slipping somewhat under the radar if their manager, in the midst of a suspension for headbutting Hull’s David Meyler, would just know when to say when.
He doesn’t.