At the age of 27 and in the early 80’s, Pard’s professional football career begun, as he juggled his career as a glazier with playing part time non-league football. Pardew flourished playing in a Midfield position for the likes of Whyteleafe, Epsom & Ewell, Dulwich and Yeovil where he tallied over 185 appearances, scored 12 goals and even played in the England Semi-professional squad.
In 1987, ours and Pardew’s dreams came true when he moved to Selhurst at a bargain fee of £7,500 when Palace was in the Second Division League. Alan went on to help the Eagles win promotion to the First Division after beating Blackburn Rovers in the play-offs. Most memorably to us Palace fans was his winning goal against Liverpool in extra time in the FA cup semi-final. His goal at Villa Park in 1990, ensured we progressed to the final winning 4-3 – then unfortunately we narrowly missed out on the title to Man Utd. Pardew often speaks of his unforgettable 4 years at Palace scoring us 8 goals, contributing to our highest ever league finish of 3rd and also featuring in the Zenith Cup Final at Wembley where we beat Everton.
In 1991 sadly Pards moved from the Palace bench to Charlton Athletic – where he was crowned top goal scorer in his second season. He then had a short spell on loan to Tottenham Hotspur, where he only made 4 appearances. Pardew’s footballing career started then to wind down after that, he rejected an opportunity to play in Hong Kong , he moved to Barnet and became a player-coach, and then moved in 1997 to reserve team manager at Reading, where he spent the next 4 years learning his exceptional management skills and abilities. His first spell as manager tells a large tale – where he successfully turned around Reading from relegation fighters to promotion candidates through his fitness regime in the training ground and his ‘Eagle Eye’ to spot new talent! Sound familiar??
Ironically Alan’s next spell as manager was at West Ham in 2004-05 where he “awkwardly” lost a play-off final to the mighty Palace! Pardew took the Hammers to 9th place the following season in the Premier League but the subsequent season saw him being criticised as a manager, after seeing West Ham through their worst run of defeats in over 70 years – he was later sacked and appointed rather quickly by Charlton Athletic only 2 weeks later. What did he expect going to West Ham?
At Charlton, Pardew struggled to keep the club’s head above water and saw the first relegation of his career both as a player and a manager – his time here wasn’t great and he never won over the fans resulting in him leaving the club in 2008. Then….just a few short months later, Pardew took over Southampton where he brought in some key players and signings to the club such as Rickie Lambert and Lee Barnard, and went on to win the clubs first trophy since 1976. However conflicts with the Club’s chairman saw Pardew being dismissed in 2010.
Then comes Mr Pardew’s most recent club Newcastle where he won the title of Premier League’s Manager of the season along with the League Managers Association Manager of the Year. Despite not gaining a good reputation with the Magpie fans his time as manager saw again Pardew bring in some quality players such as Bebuchy, Sissoko and French international Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa. It can be seen by the turn-around the effect that Pardew’s departure had, not only in the benefit for Palace but for Newcastle’s demise since Pardew’s departure. Newcastle sat comfortably in the top half of the table, 10 points clear of Crystal Palace who were floundering in the bottom three before Pardew left….and now look! The Eagles finished in 10th, a whole nine points clear of the Magpies who survived relegation very very luckily!
On 2 January 2015, Pardew was confirmed as the new Crystal Palace manager, signing a three-and-a-half-year contract with the club. Alan Pardew is not only back in his South London hometown – he is back to the ground of Selhurst where he had his best years in his player career and is on top form at a club where he is respected and loved by all of the fans, chairman, coaches and team. With the ambition, drive, passion and confidence boost that Pardew must have taken last season, being the first manager to ever take over a club in the relegation zone and guide them to a top half finish – what he can achieve going forward is beyond exciting! We can only hope that Pardew has a place at Palace for the foreseeable future and only grows his career path and CV further at our Club!
