What do West Ham, Southampton and Reading all have in common?

West Ham United secured promotion to the Premier League yesterday, as they won an entertaining match against Blackpool at Wembley 2-1. They will join Championship champions Reading and Southampton in the Premier League next year as the three promoted clubs. That will mean that Newcastle will come up against a couple of old foes in ex-manager Sam Allardyce and former captain Kevin Nolan, but it also means that Alan Pardew has completed an unlikely treble to add to his fantastic year in charge of the Toon.

Apart from obviously all being promoted to the Premier League this year, what do Reading, Southampton and West Ham all have in common? Well, they’ve all been managed in the past by current Newcastle gaffer Alan Pardew! When you add to the fact that Pardew has also previously been in charge of this year’s League One champions Charlton Athletic, then that’s quite a coincidence.

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So, LMA Manager of the Year Alan Pardew has had quite an incredible season. While leading Newcastle to fifth place in the Premier League, he’s also seen his good friend Brian McDermott take Reading up, seen West Ham, a club that he holds close to his heart, achieve promotion and watched Nigel Adkins complete the job that Pardew himself started at Southampton.

I’m sure Pardew will be looking forward to playing all three next season and while he has an affinity with the promoted trio, he’ll be trying his best to take 18 points off of them. The fact that Pardew has managed West Ham, Southampton and Reading in the past will add a bit of extra spice to all six matches and throw in the return of Big Sam to St James’ Park and Newcastle v West Ham is sure to be a huge encounter.

So, what’s needed to earn promotion to the Premier League? Well, if you’ve been managed by Alan Pardew in the past then that’s a pretty good starting point!