Alan Pardew moving from Newcastle to Palace makes sense

By now Alan Pardew has left Newcastle United, on his way to London to join Crystal Palace. On the surface, it seems an odd thing to do. He’s not yet halfway through his 8-year contract to manage a large club with a huge stadium and very passionate fans. He’s leaving all that for a much smaller club which hasn’t been relevant since 1991 and is in danger of being relegated again this season. However, it’s really a no-brainer for Pardew, for several reasons:

1. Pardew is working off one of the lowest base salaries for managers in the Premier League – about £800,000 (contrast that with the £7 million for Louis Van Gaal and Arsene Wenger), though with bonuses he actually made £2 million. His new deal with Crystal Palace is reported to be £1.5 million, with a million pound bonus if Palace stay up. Since Palace are paying somewhere between £2-2.5 million to Newcastle for Pardew, the deal also works for Ashley, as he makes more money (everything with him always seems to be about money) and gets him out of a long-term commitment.

2. Pardew had a lot to do with the best stretch of Palace’s history, playing midfield and scoring an extra-time goal against Liverpool in 1990 to put Palace in the FA Cup final. He’s a fan favorite there, and will be welcomed back. The fans at Newcastle, on the other hand, have had a pretty antagonistic relationship with Pardew (early this season sackpardew.com was a pretty popular site). Most NUFC fans are happy to see him go.

3. Pardew has not had much input on transfer policies. NUFC Owner Mike Ashley has made a habit of unloading the club’s best players at every transfer window (e.g. Andy Carroll, Demba Ba, Yohan Cabaye, Mathieu Debuchy) without replacements coming in. At Palace, Pardew has reportedly been given a great deal to rule over transfers.

When Palace sacked Warnock this weekend, Pardew had to have been chomping at the bit to move to his old club. Now he gets his wish.