It was one of those things that rival Premiership supporters joked about, Charlton fans hoped for, but pretty much everyone thought wouldn’t happen. But ex-West Ham idol Alan Pardew has indeed taken over from Les “I’m Awful” Reed at Charlton.
Despite the fact that they’ve just hired a man who was sacked for guiding his club towards relegation, with more talented players, Charlton fans seem quite happy with Pards. Although that may be more due to the euphoria of seeing the back of Les “This Is Harder Than It Looked” Reed. Denied a win in the dying minutes against Fulham thanks to a dubious free kick, Pardew is off to an encouraging start. No disrespect to Charlton, but while Pards seems to just want to be somewhere where he’s appreciated, moving from one club heading towards relegation to another club even closer to the drop seems like madness for a manager whose reputation was still relatively intact.
But then, if Pardew doesn’t save Charlton people will say there was nothing that could be done. But if he does pull a Harry Redknapp, he’ll have cemented his place in footballing legend.
Still seems a tad crazy, so is there something else at play? Something we’re not se…what’s that? Oh, alright then.