Forbury LionPardew was the catalyst at Reading, looks like he was the catalyst at Southampton..... Maybe he's the one man who can go into a club and turn things around?facaldaqui Adkins's failure at Sheffield confirms what we thought of him here. But it raises the question of how he managed to do so well at Saints. I think it might show that often the most important thing is the state of the club rather than the talent of the manager. Southampton have done well under a succession of managers, from Pardew through Adkins and Pochettino to Koeman. It reminds me of Swansea, who have done remarkably under a succession of diverse managers, including Rodgers, who failed for us.
He did turn us round, but slowly. I distinctly remember a poll on here about sacking him, and 46% of the fine judges on Hob Nob voted sack.
I will always rate Pardew because of what he did here--and I felt West Ham, Charlton, and Southampton all got rid of him too quickly. Because one peculiarity of Pardew, in all his clubs, is that he has long losing runs--but always recovers from them. If ever there is a manager to be patient with, it is Pardew. Very underrated.
(Obviously, I still hate him because he rooked us, though.)