For me, it's no longer a funny old game, more of a slighly confusing one. I was just starting to garnish some respect for Newcastle United – nice football, likeable manager, solid results, etc when their man in charge decides they no longer want the man who brought them up into the premier league and steered them to memorable derby victories. No, they'd rather have Alan Pardew.
Mr Pardew still splits fans at Upton Park, like Hughton, he pulled us into the Premier League. He also got us to a historical cup final and some memorable matches. On the flip side, Pardew oversaw some of the worst performances in our history, a 4-0 battering at the hands of Bolton still stings, alongside a league cup dumping by Chesterfield. Pardew was also presented with the assets of Tevez and Mascherano but we had to wait for Alan Curbishley to utilise Tevez and let him drive us to survival.
I find the whole affair slightly odd and if I was a Newcastle fan, I'd be concerned. Let me put it this way, I'm happy for as many other clubs to be dragged into the relegation dogpile as possible and I can't see how this move can be a progressive one for Newcastle. I think they can only go backwards from it, and on that basis, the Geordies are welcome to him….but then again, this is West Ham's luck we are talking about, so he'll probably choose now to turn into the next Jose Mourinho, let's see…