Source: FOOTYMAD
Howey Asks If Pardew Is Ashley's Doormat!
Ex-Toon defender Steve Howey wants to know who rules the roost at St James' Park. Suggesting "it doesn't seem to be Alan Pardew, and I wonder if he has a say". Just three weeks after telling the Sunday Sun he wanted to stay on Tyneside for the rest of his career, a disenchanted Nolan chose to move to West Ham for a guaranteed five-year deal worth in excess of £55,000 a week. Steve Howey (taking to the Sunday Sun): “Quite simply it is a bad, bad decision from the football club. I say football club because I do not know how much Alan (Pardew) has had to do with it. “To me, it looks like they have gone above his head. “Did the manager of Newcastle United want to sell one of his best players? I don’t think he did. “Did he want to sell Andy Carroll? No he didn’t – although that was a fantastic deal for the club. “Alan said he wanted to keep Nobby at the football club but now he has gone and you wonder who is next. “I think he has done a good job at Newcastle and the fans support him, but it makes his job harder to lose a top player. “I know it happens at football clubs these days, but for me it is an untenable situation if the manager cannot make those sort of decisions. “To move forward, Newcastle United need to keep their best players. “First of all they need to stay in the division for a sustained period of time and the only way they can do that is to keep their best players. “Kevin Nolan has been one of their best players over the last two seasons, yet he has gone. “Now, unless they have someone who none of us know about up their sleeves (coming in to replace him), I cannot see them spending the money to buy a player of that quality. “That automatically makes it difficult next year and it puts pressure on the likes of (Yohan) Cabaye straight away. “I just think it is a poor decision. Newcastle will be struggling to find anyone who can score those kind of goals from the position he plays in.”
