Catching Up ...

As Kelvin mentioned in the Wednesday match report, I've been on holiday for the past couple of weeks sampling the insanity of Las Vegas, as well as the somewhat calmer surroundings of the Californian coast, so please excuse me for the lack of updates to the blog. I flew out the day after the Sheffield Wednesday game and was frankly too annoyed to write a report before I left of a match which is best forgotten. I subsequently made a conscious effort not to follow the football whilst I was away for fear of dampening my mood during my time off. Inevitably news of the Palace result reached me however, although I managed to deal with this with the help of about ten pints. I was in a slightly happier place when I heard we got a much needed win over Ipswich, albeit courtesy of an own goal.

Since I got back I've spent a fair amount of time reading and digesting reports and comments on the blogs of these two games, and it hasn't been encouraging reading. Confused team selections and formations, abject performances and surfacing doubts about whether Pardew is the right man for the job seem to be the prevalent themes. For my part, it is difficult to comment having not been at the past two games but the Sheffield Wednesday game alone was enough to raise some serious concerns. I made a conscious effort at the start of the season to take a positive approach to the club this season, but watching Wednesday dance through our defence twice in the space of five minutes was in itself enough to overturn any kind of self enforced optimism.

I think it is fair to say that Pardew realises he walking a tightrope right now. As much as I want to believe he is the man to take us forward, I'm afraid his record to date suggests otherwise. Whilst I don't hold him accountable for our relegation a couple of seasons ago, there were certainly games at the end of the season (draws against Reading and Sheffield United spring to mind) which left you wondering what might have been. Since then his Championship record has been average and his signings have been largely unsuccessful. For me, he talks the talk very well but has not been able to walk the walk. Reading his interviews and programme notes, I always get the impression he has the situation under control and that he has a master plan to take us back to the Premiership. Unfortunately, results have suggested otherwise and I think it is inevitable that questions are now being asked.

Of course, events off the field have taken on greater significance in the past few days. I was back in the country when news broke of the 'indicative offer' from Zabeel Investments. I was slumped on the sofa enjoying a cup of tea when Mark Bright popped up on the sports section of the London news with details of the potential deal. I had to quickly swap the tea for something stronger to try and believe what I was hearing and subsequent reading around this has been fascinating. Like most of the blogs, I am approaching this with cautious optimism. I won't allow myself to get too carried away until everything has been signed, sealed and delivered, and I would be extremely surprised if there was not a complication or two.

In an added twist (particularly for this blog), I read this on the Guardian website today. It seems ridiculous and is a very outside possibility, but Kelvin and I could soon find ourselves supporting clubs owned by the same people. I suggested to him today that this should mean that players are allowed to interchange freely between us and Liverpool. For example, we give them Darren Ambrose and Jon Fortune for the season, they give us Jamie Carragher and Steven Gerrard. Sounds fair … doesn't it?!