Mike Ashley Makes Yet Another "Long Haul" Move, Signs Alan Pardew to 8 Year Extension

As you may have already seen (especially if you scrolled down to see the fan shots and Rockets4Life's link), Alan Scott Pardew, Esq. and his entire first-team coaching staff (John Carver, Steve Stone and Andy Woodman) have all been given fresh 8-year deals with the club by the man who at one point looked like he couldn't have gotten out of town fast enough. There is evidence out there that would indicate that Mike Ashley is prepared to hold onto the team and ride it to whatever level of success the sustainable business model that he has installed at St. James' Park can buy - first the signing of Graham Carr on a long-term deal, and now the locking down of the coaching staff that delivered European competition back to Newcastle. In fact, since the gut-punch that was the sale of The Benign Ponytail at the 23rd hour and 59 minutes and 59 seconds of the January transfer window in 2011 for admittedly irresistible money, he has kept the squad remarkably, if not irritatingly in terms of lack of acquisition, stable.

Given that different owners and different spending styles will yield different results in terms of managerial longevity, it is hard to get a very solid view of exactly what this will mean historically . . . in fact even within the Ashley regime, this move is atypical at best. Overall, Mike Ashley has seen Sam Allardyce, Kevin Keegan, Joe Kinnear, Alan Shearer, Chris Hughton and Alan Pardew in charge of the club since May of 2007. In the 8 years since the sacking of Sir Bobby Robson, there have been no fewer than 9 managers who took charge on at least a semi-permanent basis. That number balloons to 11 with the addition of Nigel Pearson (caretaker boss two different times) and John Carver (interim following the removal of Sir Bobby).

If Alan Pardew does make it through the duration of this contract (which again is a somewhat sizable if), he will have been head man at St. James' Park for 10 years. This is a man who had modest success at Reading and Charlton and then was completely out of management for a time before receiving Ashley's call. In contrast, European Cup winner, manager of PSV Eindhoven and Barcelona Sir Bobby Robson got 5. King Kev? Nearly 6 years in two stops at SJP. In fact, you would have to go back 50 years for the last manager that even eclipsed the 5-year mark in one stint at the helm of Newcastle United- Joe Harvey, who incidentally was the last manager to deliver any sort of major silverware to Newcastle. Ultimately, if he sees the end of this contract, Alan Pardew will be the third-longest serving Toon manager of all time (behind #2 Harvey and #1 Stan Seymour (1939-58). It will also mean that he has achieved at least some degree of success - and will hopefully mean that room has been found inside of the sustainable business model for player acquisition to allow us to remain upwardly mobile in Europe as well as the Premier League.