Newcastle Premier League Preview

Newcastle United marked their return to the Premier League last year with a 12^th place finish. On paper it looked like the club were moving forward in strides after two years of relegation and Championship football, but simmering tensions still exist at the club.

Mike Ashley is still a despised figure at St. James Park over his handling of the club’s affairs. Last season, fans were in uproar when Chris Houghton was sacked as manager following a slight dip in form and then Alan Pardew was brought in three days later. The team had been playing well and producing some good football under Houghton so the supporters were right to be angered by the appointment of the ‘more experienced’ Pardew who didn’t seem to improve the team in terms of winning.

The owner then inflicted more wounds on the supporters in January by selling off home-town hero Andy Carroll to Liverpool for £35 million. To be fair to Ashley, the fee for Carroll, which was a British transfer fee record, was a good bit of business for a player who really has yet to prove if he can be a consistent top-class striker. However, heading into the new season, fans are angered that Ashley has failed to reinvest the money from the sale of Carroll in the purchase of new quality players. Yohan Cabaye and Demba Ba did arrive in quick succession at the start of the summer but when the supporters envisaged a host of new talent coming to Newcastle, the board reverted back to their old transfer strategy of not spending money at all.

There are definitely deficiencies in the Newcastle squad and Ashley’s lack of investment will only make the faithful at St. James Park voice their criticisms even louder. It also makes Alan Pardew’s job much harder this year because if the team do not perform on the pitch, the supporters’ hostilities will also be heaped upon him.

If Newcastle do get into trouble early on in the season, there are definite questions marks over Pardew’s ability to keep them away from the relegation zone. This is the same man who brought Wes Ham on their worst ever run of defeats in 2006-2007 and was manager at Charlton when they went down, all in the same season.

Pardew has a lot to prove this year and also has to win over a section of the Toon Army who believe he has brought nothing to the club since his controversial appointment by Ashley. Pardew is 14/1 with Skybet to be the next manager to leave his post in the Premier League.

Newcastle fans would love to kick on from last season and climb the table to a top-10 finish. To achieve that feat they are currently priced at 15/8, bet365, but other bets in the market look more tempting. Second-season syndrome happens to a lot of clubs when they have a successful season after their promotion from the Championship. Newcastle are prime candidates for this as they haven’t improved their squad significantly and if things start to go wrong they could very well find themselves hovering just above the relegation zone for the season. With an untrusted manager and the turmoil between the fans and the owner continuing to disrupt the club, it might be worth sticking a few quid on Newcastle to be an outside relegation chance at 13/2, bet365.