Source: FOOTYMAD
Pardew: 'I'm Not A Disciplinarian'
Alan Pardew says he expects players to toe the line at St James' Park. Alan Pardew: “What we want is a gradual increasing of the bar at Newcastle United. “If you don’t do that then you’ve got mediocrity, and in a lot of ways that is a problem – mediocrity is a problem. “I think when you’re a footballer and you’ve had one or two years at a club where it’s not changed at the training ground, it will concern you. “It would concern me – I would be thinking ‘Why haven’t we invested in the training ground? Why isn’t it better? Why isn’t it more luxurious? Why isn’t it more geared towards a professional football club that is at this level?’ “I want them to come in and think ‘Wow, that looks good – that looks better’. “What we’ve done is partly with the pitches – the grass is thicker. There is undersoil heating for the winter. “We’ve boarded parts of it off so the balls aren’t running off the field and blowing across the pitches. “All those kind of things are important – it’s important for me and my staff. “It’s important that when we come back on July 4, changes have been made. “I don’t want it to start feeling like ‘my’ club. “What I want to happen at this club is that it has a vision, it has a goal of where it is going. “I want there to be a process for how we’re going to go forward. “I want the players to understand that as well. “I want them to understand that the training ground will get better, but we won’t stop this year. “Next year it will improve again, along with the quality of the playing staff. “I want the players to feel that as a club we are improving all the time. “I will definitely improve discipline in and around the building next year. “I think when we inherit a club half way through a season and you start laying down the law – and I think that has happened in the past here – and changing things and saying this isn’t acceptable, that isn’t acceptable . . . I’m not sure it works. “I’m not a disciplinarian by any means but I do value certain traits. “Players need to be in at a certain time, food will stop at a certain time, let’s train on time. “I think that is the minimum ask from a professional player. “Besides, players love discipline. I don’t care who you are. You ask Eric Cantona, Roy Keane, Robbie Savage, Craig Bellamy. “You ask any of those so-called problem players what they hate more than anything and it is indiscipline from other players and the fact they’re being sloppy or not on time. “Let’s put it this way, I’ve never had a problem with Joey Barton being on time or Kevin Nolan or Stevie Harper. “The second season scenario in the Premier League is well known – that second season can be very, very dangerous and we’ll be wary of it.”
