http://www.teamtalk.com/newcastle-united/6561969/Pardew-appointment-pure-madness?TEAMtalk's Mark Holmes believes giving Alan Pardew the Newcastle job will be an even bigger mistake than getting rid of Chris Hughton.
Let's not beat around the bush, Mike Ashley is an idiot.
Almost everything he has done in charge at Newcastle has upset the fans and the one good decision he did make - appointing Chris Hughton as manager - was basically made for him because of Hughton's success as caretaker boss.
Newcastle got back to the Premier League in spite of Ashley rather than because of him and it was only a matter of time before the daft sod messed it all up.
And then came Monday and the announcement that the club had decided to sack Hughton in favour of a manager with "more experience". Mike, Mike, Mike, what have you done? Jon Holmes summed up perfectly what a terrible decision that was in his blog on Monday, but it looks like his next one might be even worse.
Nobody, and I do mean nobody, thought Ashley was right to sack Hughton, but the blow might have been softened had a genuine top-class replacement already been lined up.
And it looked for a day or two as though that might be the case. Martin O'Neill was the first to be made the bookies' favourite and it looked likely Martin Jol would be appointed when he quit his job at Ajax.
But this always happens at Newcastle and the fans must have seen it coming. Big, reputable managers are linked but one by one they rule themselves out of the running - Jol has apparently turned down the job due to Ashley's desire to cut costs - and it soon becomes clear they will end up with someone they don't want.
And that man is Alan Pardew, someone whose Premier League experience totals two seasons - one and a half with West Ham before he was sacked, and half a season with Charlton before they were relegated.
Pardew has enjoyed some success in the Football League, but he's not exactly a proven winner and the only thing he is proven to be is an arrogant, big-mouthed and egotistical. The main thing he has experience in is rocking the boat - and that's exactly what he'll do at Newcastle.
Hughton may not have much experience as a manager, but he had more class in his little toe than Pardew and that's something the Magpies have long neeed from a manager. They were finally started to be taken seriously as a respected Premier League outfit, with realistic ambitions and a likeable manager, but all of that good feeling towards them will soon be replaced by a united desire to see them fail.
Pardew will come out with a load of rubbish about Newcastle being a massive club that deserves better than mid-table, but all his big talk will count for nothing in the dressing room.
The players won't take to him the way they did Hughton and I'm convinced the team will soon start to slide towards the relegation zone. That's not to say Hughton would have kept Newcastle away from danger all season - they are, after all, a newly-promoted side - but at least he had the backing of a united squad.
That counts for a lot when you're battling for survival but Pardew will immediately find himself up against a wall, with a set of players still loyal to Hughton and a supporter base that is dead against him.
But his biggest problem is that he's got no chance of winning anyone over by being Ashley's yes man. Because let's not kid ourselves that Hughton was sacked because of a lack of experience; he was sacked because Ashley wants someone to ship out the top earners and save him some money.
The fool hasn't realised that doing that will probably get the club relegated and lose him a fortune but Ashley and Derek Llambias have been friends with Pardew for a while now - the three are said to have regularly met in a London casino - and they've clearly convinced themselves they can keep the club up on a shoestring.
Jon said in his blog on Monday that Ashley has cast himself in the role of Scrooge - and the impending appointment of Pardew means he'll be joined by a muppet in time for Christmas. Maybe only Carroll can save them.
avstemning