A manager leaving one top-flight team for another is not entirely without precedent. It’s a line of work were job mobility is almost compulsory rather than optional.

But, generally speaking, managers that make a switch do so to further their careers and climb up the ladder. Not slide down it.

Which is why I found Alan Pardew’s Christmas move from Newcastle United to Crystal Palace fascinating.

His old club is comfortably nestled in the top half of the table, has some excellent players on the books and is backed by a massive army of fans. Statistically it is the third best-supported team in the top flight, behind only Manchester United and Arsenal.

His new team, on the other hand, is embroiled in a relegation battle, has a squad which has a distinct Championship feel about it, and can’t command crowds even half the size of Newcastle’s.

At face value it can only be described as a backwards move.

Admittedly, Pardew’s time at St James’ Park was not a bed of roses. He may have led the team to a couple of top-half finishes but the supporters never fully warmed to him, and only a few months ago there was a concerted campaign to have him fired.

Maybe it was this lack of love that prompted his move. Or maybe it was the fact that he has a historical connection with Palace, having played for them in the past. Maybe he just likes a challenge.

More likely, however, it was simply down to money.

Despite being (relatively) successful at Newcastle, Pardew was reported to be on a salary of ‘just’ (I use the word loosely) £500,000 (€640,000) a year. To you and me that sounds like an incredible amount of money but, by Premier League standards, it is managerial peanuts.

Newcastle owner Mike Ashley is notorious for running a tight ship but I still found it surprising he was only paying mid-level Championship manager wages.

At Palace, Pardew will probably earn three or four times that amount, if not more, and that is undoubtedly the real reason behind his move, whatever emotional love story he may come up with.

Which is all fair enough, I suppose.

Of course, this leaves a gaping vacancy at St James’ Park. But considering Ashley’s history of meddling in transfers, restricting budgets and paying his managers less than Wayne Rooney earns for falling out of bed, don’t expect any big-name bosses to be sending in their CVs.

In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if they end up sticking with caretaker John Carver till the end of the season, as he ticks Ashley’s favourite boxes – inexpensive and cheap.

Meanwhile, West Bromwich Albion also used the cover of the season of goodwill to bin their manager and create themselves a nice, Tony Pulis-shaped vacancy. Pulis was in the Hawthorns hotseat so fast, in fact, it was still warm from Alan Irvine’s backside.

And that was always the problem for managers of struggling teams this season –Pulis was available.

Few other managers enjoy Pulis’s reputation for keeping teams in the top flight, and there was never any chance he would go the whole season without one club or another earmarking him as their saviour.

There are other managers, of course, who may feel themselves lucky to have come though the festivities unscathed. Nigel Pearson at Leicester City, Sean Dyche at Burnley and Steve Bruce at Hull City have been nervously looking over their shoulders, although they will be slightly less anxious now that Pulis is out of the picture.

Having said this, you can bet your bottom dollar we won’t make it to May with the 17 remaining managers still in place. I estimate we will lose another five or six before the season draws to a close.

As for Pardew, well, I would expect he feels more secure in his new job than his old one. And I suppose there will be less pressure and expectation at Selhurst Park. Finishing fourth from bottom would be seen as an achievement for Palace, whereas it would probably have been a sacking offence at St James’ Park.

More money, less pressure, a boss who isn’t interfering… who wouldn’t go for that given the chance?

Maybe the move isn’t so strange after all. More money, less pressure, a boss who isn’t interfering… who wouldn’t go for that given the chance?

Grin and bear it

Louis van Gaal spent most of the festive season complaining about the fixture list. There are too many games and the players are tired, the Manchester United manager whined whenever the opportunity arose.

Well, I am sorry, but that is an argument he should have had with himself before taking the job.

Unlike other European leagues which go into shutdown over Christmas and New Year, English football goes into overdrive. The games come thick and fast and the demand on the players is relentless.

But it has always been that way. It’s not a new development. And hopefully it will always be that way, as it is just one of those things that makes the English game unique.

One point LVG seemed to forget while he was busy moaning was that the situation is the same for every team. It’s not like United had more games than Chelsea or Manchester City.

Equally he is not allowing for the fact that he, unlike the manager of Burnley, say, or Leicester, has considerably more strength in depth and quality in his squad.

Van Gaal is a welcome addition to the Premier League. I think he is a decent manager who could do good things for United over the coming years.

But he knew what he was getting into when he moved to England. Moaning about it now just makes him look a little bit pathetic.

Last thought on Ched

So the Ched Evans bandwagon has rolled out of town and left us with nothing controversial to fight about. Considering some of the abuse I have received over the past seven days, maybe that’s not such a bad thing.

However, just for the record, I am standing by the points I made last week: his conviction was, at the very least, questionable; the way rape cases are classified should at least be reviewed; and, irrespective of the first two points, Evans has served his custodial sentence and should be allowed to return to work in his chosen career.

Anyway, it’s no longer our problem.

I just hope that the debate, which has been nasty and bitter at times, has served at least one good purpose by increasing awareness of what actually constitutes rape.

That may provoke more women to come forward when they feel they have been a victim and may help men understand that there most definitely is a line they shouldn’t cross, no matter how blurred it is.

A dodgy deal

Last week, former Liverpool striker Fernando Torres secured a permanent move to Milan from Chelsea. On the same day he was loaned out from Milan back to his old club Atletico Madrid.

As transfer deals go it feels hugely contrived and more than slightly suspicious.

Why didn’t Atletico deal directly with Chelsea?

Why did Milan go through with a transfer when they clearly didn’t want the player?

Why didn’t Chelsea just terminate his contract and allow him to go wherever he wanted?

Of course, I am always open to correction and if anyone can point out a legitimate reason why this bit of business was carried out in such a convoluted way, I would love to hear it.

Until then, however, it has a slightly fishy smell to it.

sportscolumnist@timesofmalta.com
Twitter: @maltablade