Alan Pardew

 ( 1961 Births ) 

After rejecting an opportunity to play in Hong Kong, Pardew then moved to Barnet, and became a player-coach under manager Terry Bullivant. When Bullivant moved to Reading in 1997, he took Pardew with him as reserve-team manager.

Pardew's Reading side lost 3–2 to Walsall in a Division Two play-off final at the end of the 2000–01 season, but this was redeemed the next season as the club achieved automatic promotion to Division One. Pardew's first season in the higher division was impressive, as the club finished fourth. They lost in the play-offs again, this time to Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Pardew's first season at West Ham resulted in a play-off final defeat to his former club Crystal Palace. In the 2004–05 season, West Ham struggled to find promotion form, with Pardew coming under pressure from the club's supporters. West Ham eventually succeeded in gaining promotion to the Premier League after defeating Preston North End in the play-off final. Pardew guided the Hammers to ninth place in the Premier League in the 2005–06 season, which culminated in an appearance in the final of the FA Cup. After drawing 3–3 with Liverpool at the end of extra time, West Ham lost on penalties, resulting in the second FA Cup final defeat of Pardew's career.

In the 2006–07 season, Pardew was criticised after seeing West Ham through their worst run of defeats in over 70 years, which included an exit from the UEFA Cup to Palermo in the first round, and a EFL Cup defeat to Chesterfield. West Ham's new owners stated their support for Pardew, but on 11 December 2006, following a 4–0 defeat away at Bolton Wanderers the previous weekend, Pardew was dismissed by the club.

To spearhead their return to the Premier League, Pardew signed Chris Iwelumo and Luke Varney in the 2007–08 season. But Charlton failed to mount a serious promotion challenge, and finished the season in eleventh place. This put Pardew under pressure entering the 2008–09 season, but Charlton started the season off well with victories over Reading and Swansea City. Charlton's form, however, quickly deteriorated and they were near the foot of the table after eight games without a win. After a 5–2 home defeat to Sheffield United, hundreds of supporters remained for more than an hour to condemn their manager, chanting, "We want Pardew out" and "We want our club back" after Charlton had slipped into the Championship's bottom three. On 22 November 2008, Pardew parted company with Charlton by mutual consent.

Pardew led Southampton to the 2010 League Trophy final at Wembley Stadium, where they won 4–1 against Carlisle United. The win gave the club their first trophy since 1976. Five months later, Pardew was dismissed by the club, amidst reports of low staff morale and conflicts between Pardew and club chairman Nicola Cortese.

Pardew stated: "I'm not a Geordie of course, but I'm a football person with a love of the game and I can assure you I bring great drive, desire and commitment to the job. Chris Hughton did a great job last season, guiding the club back to the Premier League, and he continued that good work this season. It is my aim to build on that now and take this club forward." He acknowledged that he would face a battle to win over players and supporters, and that other managers had texted him to say "you must be mad going there", but he declared, "It's one of the top five clubs in England. It's a daunting prospect but something I couldn't turn down."

In his first game in charge, Pardew led Newcastle to a 3–1 win over Liverpool at St James' Park on 11 December 2010, with goals from Kevin Nolan, Joey Barton and Andy Carroll. In the club's first home match of 2011, he achieved a notable 5–0 victory over his former club West Ham. He brought in his own coaching staff in the form of John Carver as assistant manager, who had worked as assistant to Sir Bobby Robson six years earlier. Andy Woodman was also Pardew's appointment as goalkeeping coach. Soon after, however, Pardew suffered one of the biggest upsets in the club's history as Newcastle went down 3–1 to League Two side Stevenage in the third round of the FA Cup.

The following month, however, Pardew led the Magpies to a 4–4 draw with Arsenal in a match at St James' Park on 5 February 2011. Newcastle were 4–0 down at half-time, only to come back to level the match. This has been seen as one of the most remarkable comebacks in Premier League history. He secured Newcastle's safety in the Premier League with a 2–1 win over Birmingham City on 7 May 2011, with the club in mid-table. This result was followed by a 2–2 draw at Chelsea and a 3–3 draw against West Bromwich Albion at St James' Park. In this match, however, they let a 3–0 goal lead slip, meaning they would finish outside the top ten in 12th place.

In the summer of 2011, Pardew brought many French language-speaking players to the club, including Yohan Cabaye, Sylvain Marveaux and Demba Ba. At the start of the 2011–12 season, Pardew led Newcastle to their best start to a Premier League campaign in 17 years, with an unbeaten run of eleven matches in all competitions.

In January 2012, Pardew signed striker Papiss Cissé from Bundesliga club SC Freiburg. This was another pivotal signing in the resurgence of Newcastle, as he scored 13 goals in twelve games.

Two days prior to the final match of the season, Pardew won the Premier League Manager of the Season award, becoming the first Newcastle manager to achieve this. He was given the award after an impressive season with Newcastle, where he guided them to a European place for the following season. He also won the League Managers Association Manager of the Year award, which made him the first and only English manager to win the two individual awards in a single Premier League season. On 27 September 2012, Pardew signed an eight-year contract extension with the club.

During the 2013 January transfer window, Pardew signed a number of players from the French Ligue 1 – including internationals such as Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa, Mathieu Debuchy and Moussa Sissoko – to help boost Newcastle's chances. The new signings helped Pardew to guide Newcastle to their first European quarter-final in eight years, as they defeated Russian side Anzhi Makhachkala 1–0 on aggregate. On 14 April 2013, Pardew's Newcastle side lost 3–0 to Sunderland at St James' Park, Newcastle's biggest home defeat to Sunderland since Bill McGarry's side lost 4–1 in February 1979. On 6 December 2013, Pardew was awarded the November Premier League Manager of the Month award, after guiding Newcastle to four wins out of four. He followed this up with the club's first win at Old Trafford in 41 years, defeating Manchester United 0–1 on 7 December 2013.

Newcastle's form since the turn of the year into the end of season 2013–14 was described by the regional press as "a total collapse", with the club losing 15 of 21 competitive fixtures. Fans' discontent boiled over in the final home match of the season on 3 May, when Pardew (and club owner Ashley) received vocal and sustained abuse from the stands despite a 3–0 victory over Cardiff City. The Chronicle newspaper commented: "This was arguably the worst personal abuse a Newcastle manager has had to endure at any game. It was an excruciating afternoon for all concerned." Despite this, he retained the trust of owner Mike Ashley, with the press, including the Chronicle, reporting that he would be given a chance to rebuild the side for the 2014–15 season. In September 2014, with the club in bottom place in the Premier League, some fans created a website, Sackpardew.com, to instigate his dismissal. Protests were also planned before a game against Hull City, which included the printing of 30,000 A4 sheets calling for his dismissal. In November 2014, Pardew guided Newcastle to six consecutive wins in all competitions, the second time he had done so during his time as manager at the club. On 6 December 2014, Pardew's side ended Chelsea's unbeaten start to the season in all competitions, as Newcastle beat them 2–1 at St James' Park. On 12 December 2014, Pardew was awarded the Premier League Manager of the Month award for November 2014.

On 29 December 2014, after the dismissal of Neil Warnock, Pardew was given permission to talk to Crystal Palace on the club's managerial vacancy, with compensation agreed. A day later, John Carver assumed first-team managerial duties, with Pardew absent from training.

The 2015–16 season started well for Pardew – wins over teams such as Chelsea, Aston Villa and Liverpool meant there was talk of a UEFA Europa League spot early in the campaign. After 19 games, the season's midpoint, Palace sat in fifth position in the Premier League, and looked well positioned to challenge for said European spot going into the New Year of 2016.

However, this target would ultimately not be reached, as Palace made a dismal start to 2016. They embarked on a 14-game winless run, which came to a halt with a 1–0 win over Norwich City. They would only win one other league game throughout the entire season – a 2–1 home victory over Stoke City on the penultimate match day of the season, enough to keep the club in the division by finishing 15th. Despite the poor league form, Pardew and his team qualified for the 2015–16 FA Cup final after a 2–1 win over Watford, thanks to goals from Yannick Bolasie and Connor Wickham. They subsequently lost the cup final 2–1 to Manchester United.

After a poor start to the 2016–17 season, and poor results overall in the 2016 calendar year, Pardew was dismissed as manager on 22 December 2016; Palace had won only six matches of 36 played in 2016. They had won one in eleven, and were placed 17th in the Premier League table at the time of his dismissal. Palace chairman Steve Parish said Pardew's "expansive style of football hasn't worked", and, "Now we're going to wind the dial back the other way".

On 2 April 2018, West Bromwich Albion and Pardew mutually parted company after he had been manager for four months. At the time, Albion had gone ten games without a win, were on a run of eight successive defeats and were bottom of the Premier League.