Alan Pardew named Premier League manager of the season

[Bender]

bbc
Newcastle United manager Alan Pardew has been named the Premier League's manager of the season, becoming the first Magpies boss to win the award.
The club are fifth in the league and targeting a Champions League place in Sunday's final game of the season.

"It's been a magnificent achievement by everyone at this club," said Pardew.
"The pinnacle of the game is the Champions League. To actually be competing for it is more than we imagined."

Pardew took over in December 2010, following the departure of Chris Hughton, and his signings, such as Demba Ba and Papiss Cisse, have helped the club enjoy a memorable campaign.

Newcastle cannot finish lower than fifth this season, meaning they will end the campaign ahead of Chelsea and Liverpool. They are aiming to overtake Arsenal and Tottenham to the third and automatic Champions League spot when they visit Everton on Sunday.

"To have that opportunity [of Champions League qualification] is something that doesn't come along very often, and we want to try to grasp it," added Pardew.

[Muddled]

Fair enough.

[McDermotX]

Think Roy will have something to say about this...........................surely he views being given the England job as the ultimate endorsement of a manager at the height of his powers.

I expect him to piss on Pardew's chips by the time the weekend's over.

[Chazza]

Deserved for the performances and signings this season

Proved me wrong as I thought they would be mid table at best with him steering the ship

[RichC]

Yeah, I expected them to be average but instead they were consistently good with some cracking signings

[dom9]

Alan Pardew, King of the LMA

Thoroughly deserved.

[G]

The LMA award is not announced until Monday.

He should get that one too though.

[magicalbarnes]

Cant argue with this but surely it would have made more sense to wait until the end of the season to see if they actually get a CL spot?

[Darkon]

Well deserved

[Lee]

Well deserved

My choice too, he's done a great job at Newcastle.

But then I always said that he was a good manager.

[Shaggy]

I thought it was a complete joke of an appointment and so I've obviously been proven massively wrong

Fair play, he's done a great job. Amazing in fact. Thoroughly deserved, although I know the City fans will be up in arms

[Tee]

Well deserved

Still, I willl never forgive him for breaking my heart in 1990 though (FA Cup semi v Palace). We would have beaten the Mancs in the final and Fergie would have been sacked......

[colin85]

Fully deserved. He's helped turn them from a joke of a club into one that is gaining respect again.

[Imy]

Deserved. Acid test will be if can he keep them at the same level next year, i have my doubts.

[Muddled]

True.

And I think players will be sold too - Tiote and Ba, in my opinion - so it will be ineresting to see how they replace them *and* build a squad for both the Premier League and Europe.