I think Pards is quite good at getting along with boards. He''s a good friend of Steve Parish which probably gave him longer than he should have had at Palace. Pardew''s first season at Palace was brilliant and we played some really exciting football (having been very defensive under Pulis and just terrible under Warnock) but it went pear shaped after that and he had no ability to turn it around. The problems emerged as the team became Pardew''s team. His signings were poor (considering the money spent) and he was incapable of signing the right players in the right positions. He sold some of our better squad players and replaced them with big names on big wages. He left behind a very weak squad - any injury to a key player would leave the team in a mess. He left us with no proper left backs, two slow centre backs, no defensive midfielders and a dodgy goalkeeper. His tactics were poor and inflexible. You''d know his line-up and formation every week - there was no attempt to react to the opposition. His teams were all attack with no effort to defend. We didn''t really draw games, at the start we won them and towards the end we kept losing. He would never hold out for a draw, we''d over-commit and concede a last minute goal. Being 4-3 up against Swansea on the 90th minute and losing 5-4 was farcical. Fitness was a major concern too. The squad really flagged towards the end of games, our former goalkeeping coach was embarrassingly overweight and there seemed to be little planning or tactical awareness in training. Maybe he''ll have learned something from his latest debacle, but experience from other clubs and his nonsensical interviews suggest not. Overall we''re lucky to be shot of Pardew. There''s a slight chance the new team can sort out the mess he left behind and avoid relegation. Good luck with the rest of your season. I''ve always liked Norwich!
