ALAN PARDEW VOWS TO WIN NEWCASTLE POWER STRUGGLE

ABOVE: Alan Pardew declined to endorse the club’s media release

Pardew is concerned that if Kinnear continues to air outrageous comments, it will make his own job even harder

19th June 2013

NEWCASTLE boss Alan Pardew has vowed to win his power struggle with newly-appointed director of football Joe Kinnear.

The pair spoke for several hours in London yesterday, their first face-to-face meeting since it emerged Kinnear was returning to St James’ Park.
Talks are understood to have been cordial. But while Pardew accepts that Kinnear has been brought in above him, he feels strongly that, as team manager, his authority can’t be undermined any further.
He was seeking reassurances from Kinnear on several key issues, including transfer business, team strategy and who will be the public face of Newcastle.

Pardew is concerned that if Kinnear continues to air outrageous comments, it will make his own job even harder.
A club statement, issued almost 48 hours after news first broke confirmed that the 66-year-old will, effectively, be Pardew’s immediate boss.
As Kinnear had revealed himself, he will report directly to the club’s board “as the senior executive in charge of all football-related matters”.
The statement included a welcome address from club managing director Derek Llambias, whom Kinnear had comically called “Derek Lambeezee” and claimed had quit as director of football in an outlandish radio interview on Monday night.
Tellingly, there was no endorsement from Pardew towards the man he is expected to work with on a day-to-day basis, with the Toon chief having opted out of putting his own name to the release.
The Newcastle manager found out about Kinnear’s arrival last week and is understood to have been shocked, upset and disappointed. \
He is under no illusions that Kinnear has been drafted in because Toon owner Mike Ashley’s confidence in him was dented after last season’s 16th-place finish.
But Pardew’s instincts are to carry on. He remains close to Llambias, who had nothing to do with Kinnear’s appointment.
And Pardew and his backroom team of John Carver, Steve Stone and Andy Woodman are determined to stay together and lead Newcastle back into the top half of the Premier League.
They have all been taken aback by Kinnear’s recent interviews, notably his 15 minute rant on talkSPORT when he insulted the Toon Army and got several players’ names wrong.

Pardew is understood to be particularly concerned about suggestions that Kinnear wants to travel to away matches on the team bus and have an office at the club’s Benton training ground.
And there are fears that the latest upheaval to hit a club renowned for hitting the headlines for all the wrong reasons could result in several top players, such as Yohan Cabaye, leaving this summer.
But Pardew, who signed an eight-year contract last autumn, loves being manager of Newcastle.
He never considered quitting after last term’s disappointing campaign and isn’t ready to walk away in the wake of this week’s turbulent and often comical events.