Alan Pardew has a few headaches ahead of his return to St Mary's on Sturday, not least a long term injury to the club's marque summer signing.

Alan Pardew along with the club owner Mike Ashley is under fire from the Toon army for what is being seen as a disastrous transfer window, the club already short of fire power not only allowed Hatem Ben Arfa to go on loan to Hull City , but failed in the eyes of the fans to bring in sufficient strike power to bolster a side who despite their 10th position last season only scored 43 goals, barely one a game whilst at the other end conceded 59.

Pardew's problems have now been compounded by a long term injury to £6 million summer signing Siem De Jong who looks set to miss several months after damaging his thigh in training.

This all adds to the pressure on Pardew who has a supporter base who have not always been 100% behind him due to his closeness to owner Mike Ashley, Ashley is viewed with suspicion on Tyneside and now with his alleged interest in Rangers the opposition to him will be cranked up another notch or two and that will impact on Pardew.

Pardew will receive a warm welcome from Saints fans on Saturday though, during his year in charge at the club he put down the foundations for the push to the Premier league and although his axing after falling out with Nicola Cortese meant he was unable to see through the job he had started so well, Saints supporters realise that his work in those early months after administration stood us in good stead for years to come.

Photo: Action Images

Jesus_02 added 09:40 - Sep 8 Did he get the sack after falling out with Cortese or did he fall out with him after because he was getting the sack? Personally I thought it was the later. He has a good eye for players, and in L1 he had great pulling power to sign them. But to be fair we bought the best players in the League and missed out on the play offs (even without the -10 we would have only scraped in by 3 points) Good times, JPT will live in my memory but Newcastle (or possibly Spurs) is about Pardews level ;)

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zoso added 12:16 - Sep 8 I for one will not give him a warm welcome. Do you not remember our league position when we sacked him.
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SaintNick added 14:49 - Sep 8 Perhaps Pardews level is Newcastle or possibly Spurs, but take a look at both of their last 10 years and then ours, we still aspire to that level so it shouldnt be sneered at. When pardew left we had just beaten Bristol Rovers away 4-0 we were 14th with 4 points, which was only 3 off of Bournemouth in 5th so yes remember our league position it wasnt great but it wasnt the disaster some would say either, given that in the next four games after that win at Bristol we lost 3 and managed 1 point against Colchester at home to drop to 22nd perception isnt always what is reality Pardew put in some great foundations, without him no Rickie and no Fonte

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BoondockSaint added 16:46 - Sep 8 Anybody know the real reason he was fired? Did Cortese just want to get Atkins in? I remember there being a rumour about a bust-up on the bus (supposedly about one of the players wives) but I figured it might be dis-information from Cortese. Then again Pardew does seem to have a short fuse....
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schatfield added 16:50 - Sep 8 i remember one of the rumored reasons for his sack, was he was having an affair with 1 of the players wife...dunno if just a rumor or not though
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GeordieSaint added 21:26 - Sep 8 Pardew did a good job and got the ball rolling again but I reckon 3v1 again with pards getting sacked in the morning. Hopefully he will stick the nut on fat mike cashley on his way out.
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Chesham_Saint added 11:57 - Sep 9 I'd welcome him. Nick's absolutely right he was the first manager we had in a long while with whom the trajectory was up. I understood he was allegedly over familiar with Mrs Fonte, but what do i know. He does have a rep as a bot of a ladies' man though...
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