About Me

Old Coulsdon, United Kingdom
An acquired refugee from the days of exile at Selhurst Park, my first game being a dreary 1-1 draw with Millwall. I followed the team back to The Valley, and have now been with them for over twenty years. You will find me in the Rose of Denmark or in the Lower West. Follow me on Twitter @DeepestDarkest1

Wednesday 1 October 2008

Communication

After an unsurprising 1-0 reverse against our South London cousins last night, we sit in 17th place, and still we appear more concerned with those above us, than those below us. For a team being rebuilt, we are pretty much where I expect us to be right now, and statistically, both our home and away records this season, show that we are in exactly the right position, and yet I still hear noises about promotion? This is a team in transition, essentially a young team, and yet the whole unrealistic expectation malarkey around promotion is actually being perpetrated by Pardew himself.

This is a side capable of promotion he reckons - wrong. Sorry to all the optimists out there, but it is just plain wrong. I only hope it is a team capable of staying in this division quite frankly, and therein lies Pardew's most glaring weaknesses to date. Tactically, he has shown himself to be suspect, and motivational abilities are also sadly not in evidence. For me though, the most frustrating thing is the utter drivel that gets spouted before and after matches by our manager.

You know what? If he 'fessed up that the team was young, fighting hard, a bit lacking, but not wanting for effort, and that promotion was unrealistic this season, I would have a lot more respect for him, and his team than I do right now. Let's get a bit of bunker mentality going shall we?, but include the fans in the bunker, and do you know what? - the sum of the parts will indeed be greater than the whole.

My concern is that while the platitudes and cliches keep coming, the fans resolve against Pardew will harden with every defeat, and that is an ever decreasing circle we cannot afford to get into right now.

3 comments:

  1. I think you'll find that if he confesses to that the remaining big earners will have to leave and the board will be attacked for selling season tickets with a free seat on promotion.

    Even though it is a little obvious that we are not one of the best six sides in this division our wage bill probably is in that category, and was probably in the top two last season.

    Thus the club (or manager) cannot now admit the truth.

    It seems the only way out is for the board to sack Pardew, blame him for everything and hope that the new man in 'gets lucky'.

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  2. I agree about his post-match (and pre-match remarks). I think when O'Leary left Villa he sold him his big book of excuses.

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  3. Totally agree about his 'Mouthings' as I call them. Makes this whole situation far harder to stomach. I'm sure, like me, most fans are desperate to get behind the team but being treated like an idiot makes it very difficult at times.

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