Things turned bad under Pardew a long time ago, the season after we finished fifth in and he was receiving the pats on the back that deserved. I trace the decline under him back to that summer, when only one player was signed and he boasted about the squad’s strength in depth when there was none - and that was more than three years ago. He did everything he could to cling on to a job he could not believe he was lucky enough to have been given.