Sunday 22 March 2015 15:22, UK
Alan Pardew regrets failing to guide Newcastle to domestic cup success and his poor record against north-east rivals Sunderland during his tenure at St James’ Park.
The current Crystal Palace manager, who spent four turbulent years on Tyneside, also revealed the intricacies of his relationship with Newcastle chairman Mike Ashley during a guest appearance on Goals on Sunday.
Adam Johnson’s stoppage-time strike in December gave Pardew the unenviable record of becoming the first manager in the club’s history to lose four consecutive Tyne-Wear derbies, a point which niggles him to this day.
“You’re going to get difficult years as a manager and you have to see them through,” Pardew said.
“I had five years there and people come up to me and say ‘you must be so pleased you’re away from Newcastle’, but I actually miss Newcastle.
“The support is such, that it’s intense. They want their team to win.
“If I was to be critical of my management there, I didn’t win the derbies and didn’t do well enough in the cups, and unfortunately they’re emotive games for Newcastle fans.
“It’s a real regret of my management there, but I’m proud of everything else I achieved and I sincerely hope in the summer they have a good window, buy well, and get that place rocking like it was in that second half [against Arsenal].
“The transfer window really hurt us when we lost Yohan Cabaye and Loic Remy got injured, and that’s when our problems started.
“It is difficult to try and stay with those top clubs when you haven’t got the investment. We got so close – probably closer than Southampton are this year. We were two or three games away from the Champions League.
“The funds at Newcastle are way, way below Liverpool and Spurs and those are the teams the fans expect to compete with.”
Despite an intense and, at times, controversial spell in charge in the North East, Pardew confirmed his relationship with Chairman Ashley was a healthy one.
“I will always be grateful to Mike him for that opportunity,” he added.
“The first year, we’d just come up from the Championship when I took over, and the next year we finished fifth with an unbelievably great time. Unfortunately we couldn’t build on that.
“This year, when we had a difficult start and then went on a fantastic run, then lost both goalkeepers – and that’s very unique – the fans just fell out of love with me. It’s very difficult for a manager then to win that back.
“I worked well with Mike. There were times we made mistakes, for sure – we should have invested a little bit more in Europa League – but he was always honest with me and I was always honest with him, and we made those errors.”
