Alan Pardew
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Alan Scott Pardew | ||
| Position(s) |
Manager (former Midfielder) | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | West Ham United | ||
Alan Scott Pardew (born, 18 July 1961 in Wimbledon, London) is the manager of the English professional football side West Ham United in the English Premier League. As a player, he was a steady, hardworking midfielder, most notably playing for Crystal Palace and Charlton Athletic. He has previously managed Reading.
Playing career
After several years combining a career in non-league football with a full-time job as a glazier, Pardew signed for Crystal Palace from Yeovil Town for £7,500 in 1987. The highlight of his playing career came in 1990 when he helped Crystal Palace reach the FA Cup final, by scoring the winner against Liverpool in a memorable semi-final at Villa Park, a game that Palace won 4 - 3, just a year after helping them to promotion to the First Division via the Second Division playoffs. He later turned out for Charlton Athletic and Barnet, before retiring as a player in 1997 after taking a player/coach role at Reading. Has also recently had an affair which has been hushed up by the media due to a judge's ruling. But you heard it here first, folks.
Reading
Pardew was the manager of Reading between 1997 and 2003. He turned the club around from relegation fighters to promotion candidates through players, such as Jamie Cureton, and his regime to increase the fitness of the squad. Pardew also coined his motto "Tenacity, Spirit and Flair" to give his side a psychological edge. This resulted in a Division Two play-off final defeat to Walsall at the end of the 2000/01 season, but was redeemed the next season by automatic promotion to Division One. Pardrew's first season in the higher division was outstanding, as the club finished 4th and lost in the play-offs once again, this time to Wolves. Pardew was on the map as one of the game's best up and coming young managers.
West Ham United
Early into the 2003/04 season, with Reading 2nd in the table, Pardew's relationship with the club turned sour when he reneged on a recently signed contract and accepted the manager's job at West Ham. Pardew had a clause in his contract which allowed him to accept offers from clubs in a higher league, but West Ham were in the same league as Reading at the time. As this was in breach of contract, Reading initially refused to let Pardew leave the club and attempted to obtain an injunction to prevent him from being employed by a competing club. However, Pardew made it clear that he wanted to leave Reading to manage West Ham. In a deal agreed just ahead of a court appearance on 18 September 2003 it was agreed that he could take control of the East London club, on condition that: he take one month gardening leave, that West Ham pay £380,000 in compensation, and that West Ham sign no Reading players or staff before the end of the 2003-04 season.
Outside of London's High Court after the situation had been resolved Pardew responded "I am pleased that common sense has prevailed and the matter has now been resolved. I would first like to thank Reading for the 4 fantastic years I have had there and i wish them all the very best for the future but this is an opportunity too good to turn down. Being a Londoner I'm well aware of the stature and the history and tradition of the club and the need to play the style of football the supporters expect. I know how passionate they are about the club, they truly are the lifeblood and I can't wait to take over and continue the job in hand of getting this great club back into the Premiership where it belongs"
He has still never bought a Reading player for West Ham since. Pardew gained West Ham promotion to the Premiership in 2004-05, and he guided the Hammers to a respectable start to the 2005-06 season. Pardew made headlines on 10 March 2006 when he criticised Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger for not fielding any English players in the UEFA Champions League, a comment which Wenger responded to by calling Pardew racist. Pardew dismissed Wenger's claim by saying his wife is Swedish.
Pardew has the knack of value-adding to players who have been let go by others, strikers Bobby Zamora and Marlon Harewood being but two.
Pardew's greatest achievements at West Ham to date include winning promotion to the Premiership in the 2004-05 season and reaching the FA Cup final in the 2005-06 season, beating four Premiership clubs on the way before losing to the-then European Champions Liverpool on penalties, after a thrilling 3-3 draw. He has also been widely tipped as the next England manager.
Lately, Pardew has come under fire after seeing West Ham through their worst run of defeats in over 70 years. Most supporters remain patient, but a small minority are calling for his dimissal as patience wears thin. Before kick-off and during West Ham's 2-1 defeat of Blackburn Rovers on the 29th October 2006 fans showed their support for Pardew by chanting "There's only one Alan Pardew". After the game, West Ham's first win in 9 games, Pardew said "I'm not the most emotional of people but I was a little bit choked at the start, with the way they backed me, and I thank them for that."
Managerial stats
| Team | Nat | From | To | Record | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | L | D | Win % | ||||
| Reading | 
|
March 18 1998 | March 25 1998 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Reading |
|
October 13 1999 | September 10 2003 | 212 | 102 | 57 | 53 | 48.11 |
| West Ham United |
|
October 20 2003 | Present | 161 | 67 | 56 | 38 | 41.61 |
External links
- Alan Pardew profiled by The Observer
- Alan Pardew profile at the League Managers Association
- Alan Pardew at Soccerbase
- Alan Pardew management career statistics at Soccerbase