Thanks For The Memories

John Lennon once famously described The Beatles split as "nothing to worry about, it's only a rock n' roll band, they'll be others."

In those terms Alan Pardew's sacking probably isn't a big deal, like the Fab Four, they'll be others but it's rare that you find a manager who has such integrity, honesty and openness these days, unless it's one of the big boys who are usually trying to conceal their true feelings whilst attempting to gain a 'psychological edge'.

I never wanted Alan Pardew as manager, that's not hindsight people who know me will confirm that, I wanted Iain Dowie or Alan Curbishley to follow the woeful Glenn Roeder. Pardew didn't make a particularly good impression during his first season, just scraping into the play-offs before losing at Cardiff to Crystal Palace of all people. The second season, despite finishing miles behind the top two we reached the Play-off final again thanks to a superb display away at Ipswich Town and beat Preston to gain promotion.

Last season the players played above themselves and finished in the top ten and were only Stevie G's right foot away from winning the FA Cup. The mistakes were made duing the summer though, Pardew had £12 million to spend on players and didn't spend a penny of it, the side from the Championship that had surprised everybody should have bought some quality Premiership players to support those younger players in the squad.

When Eggert Magnusson made his comment last week that "it will be you throat that's cut," you knew the writing was on the wall, on the desktop, all over the internet and the back pages - Pards would be gone if we lost to Wiggie at home and Notlob away.

Last season's wins at Arsenal and Fulham in the league and Man.City and Boro in the FA Cup are memories to be cherished, but football like life moves on.