Alan Pardew was 12 minutes away from FA Cup glory when he rocked some dance moves to celebrate as Crystal Palace boss – but his career has taken a weird route since then
Alan Pardew made himself a meme when he celebrated Crystal Palace‘s goal in the FA Cup final in 2016. Donning a suit, the veteran boss knew exactly where the camera was as he showcased some moves that would stand the test of time.
The issue for Pardew was that Jason Puncheon’s goal, despite coming just 12 minutes from the end, wasn’t enough to seal the Eagles a cup triumph against Manchester United. As a result his audacious celebration left him with egg on his face.
Palace will return to Wembley for another FA Cup final nearly a decade on from that near miss, which saw Jesse Lingard score United’s winner in extra-time.
Pardew has found himself travelling Europe in the years after his Palace sacking, which he could have few complaints about. The run to the FA Cup final certainly covered for major cracks elsewhere. By the time he was dismissed in December 2016 his side had won only six matches of 36 played in the calendar year.
The club’s chairman Steve Parish said Pardew’s “expansive style of football hasn’t worked”, and, “Now we’re going to wind the dial back the other way”.
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West Brom felt that Pardew, who had enjoyed positive spells at the likes of West Ham and Newcastle previously in his managerial career, could help save them from Premier League relegation. His stay was brief – four months in fact.
He and the Baggies mutually parted company after they had gone ten games without a win, were on a run of eight successive defeats and sat bottom of the Premier League en route to relegation. It would be Pardew’s final gig as a manager on home soil.
At so began his nomadic career in mainland Europe. First in Holland where he surprisingly landed the job at ADO Den Haag. He took charge of eight league games, winning one, before play was halted in the Netherlands by the Covid pandemic. That wasn’t before the training ground was invaded by the club’s ultras who demanded answers.
An angry set of fans went to the club’s training base during a session and presented Pardew and his players with a flip-board as they looked to point out some of their errors in recent games. The ex-Palace boss saw his contract come to an end shortly after lockdown began.
In November 2020 he headed to Bulgaria, where he initially became an аdviser on football matters to the owners of CSKA Sofia. In April 2022 Pardew took charge of the first team following the resignation of the manager Stoycho Mladenov, but struggled for results.
In just his second game in charge CSKA were battered 5-0 by Ludogorets Razgrad – the biggest defeat of their season. He later left after a racist incident which saw CSKA fans throw bananas at their own players.
Pardew’s most recent job took him to Greece where he was appointed as the new manager of Greek Super League club Aris Thessaloniki, replacing Germán Burgos in September 2022. He signed a one-year contract with the option to extend for a further year, but was gone by February. Since then he’s featured as a regular pundit on talkSPORT.
His travels represent a major shift from the man who Carlo Ancelotti claimed should replace Roy Hodgson as England manager after Euro 2016. “If England wanted an English manager after Hodgson, then Pardew is really good and I think he is the best option to be manager of the national team. I think he is the best candidate,” said the five-time Champions League winner.
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