Only Pardew can get Newcastle away from the bottom of this table

Newcastle United face Sunderland at St James’ Park in the 146th Tyne-Wear derby on Sunday and apart from geography, the clubs have plenty in common. While both Newcastle and Sunderland have had successful campaigns this season, especially since the Mackems have brought in Martin O’Neill, both north-east clubs have had a high turnover of managers in the past decade or so. In fact in the Premier League, only QPR have sacked more managers since 2000, but is Alan Pardew here to stay?

Since 2000, out of the Premier League clubs, Newcastle are joint second from bottom alongside neighbours Sunderland in terms of managerial turnover. Both the Magpies and the Black Cats are on their ninth gaffer, which is astonishing when you think that Manchester United and Arsenal have had just Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger respectively during that time and beyond, while Everton have only had two managers. Here is the Premier League Managerial Turnover table below (click on the image to make it bigger)…

Changing managers is something of a chicken and egg situation. You’re only going to change your manager if the club isn’t doing well, but you’re only going to do well if you stick by a manager for a long period of time. Changing managers at a whim becomes a cycle that is very difficult to get out of, as Newcastle have found in recent years.

It’s also very expensive, as not only do you have to pay off managers, new gaffers generally want new players, which means spending more money on a brand new squad. Stick with a manager and you save money, which that man can then spend on building a good squad – that seems to make economic sense, a fact that’s sure not to be lost on Mike Ashley.

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Something else not lost on Ashley is the feel-good factor that Pardew has managed to bring back to Newcastle. Winning has obviously helped to achieve that, but the work he’s done to improve the squad’s team spirit shouldn’t be overlooked. Neither should the choice of players he’s brought in to the club over the last year, whom have all contributed to that team spirit.

For Newcastle to significantly rise up the table above then Pardew will have to be at the helm for a number of years. If he is then he’s likely to have brought success to Newcastle and have built something that won’t be forgotten any time soon. There’s no doubt that Newcastle need to stop swapping managers, and maybe, just maybe, Pardew is the man to stick with rather than twist further down the line.

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