Reaction to Alan Pardew appointment at Newcastle

Sam Allardyce insists new Newcastle manager Alan Pardew must "make his own time" with results on the pitch in order to survive long term under the club's controversial owner Mike Ashley.

Newcastle today confirmed that former Charlton, West Ham and Southampton boss Pardew had agreed a five-and-a-half-year deal, a long contract for a club that have now employed six full-time bosses since Ashley took over just over three years ago.

Allardyce was the first manager to be fired by Ashley in January 2008 and believes results and nothing else will dictate how long Pardew remains in the St James' Park hotseat.

The Blackburn manager told Sky Sports: "It's not about Mike Ashley giving him the time, it's about Alan making his own time.

"Irrespective of the length of contract, we're employed to get results and that's the first major thing to achieve.

"If you get results you stay there, if you don't get results as I say it can be a little quick, the decisions are made and you know the industry that you're in.

"It's a results game that you've got to keep the right end of, and you will keep your job for as long as you want it if you get that right."

Allardyce admitted he was surprised at the decision to ditch Pardew's predecessor Chris Hughton, who had taken the Magpies into mid-table in their first season back in the Premier League after winning promotion from the Championship.

"I was surprised at the timing because I didn't think that they were in a particularly difficult situation, but the decision has been made and as long as Chris is sorted out with the financial side of his contract then he can ask nothing else," Allardyce added.

"He will be very disappointed but he has proven himself to be a very good manager in his time at Newcastle. He has got to get over that disappointment and find himself another job in football, which I'm sure he will do very, very quickly."

Allardyce said the situation at Newcastle was typical of the modern English game at the highest level.

"Very quickly decisions are sometimes made on the back of the fact that there is so much money involved in the game now," he said.

"Most football clubs are frightened of losing that revenue more than anything else and tend to want to change manager a little too quickly.

"But we know what we're getting into when we start it. Look at Alan, a few months ago he was probably wondering where he was going to get his next job from when he was sacked at Southampton, which I thought was pretty unfair, but now he has managed to bounce back and get the Newcastle job."

Blackpool boss Ian Holloway expressed his shock at the decision to axe Hughton but wished Pardew well.

"All I'd like to say about it is that I was shocked," Holloway said.

"I can't think of a more shocking sacking over the last five, six, seven years because of how well Chris has done, because of what happened to Newcastle, where they could have gone - anyone in football knows that.

"Chris steadied the ship, and more than steadied it - he took them back (to the Premier League) with aplomb and now they are in 12th place. He has enhanced his own reputation.

"I'm sure he'll feel aggrieved and he gets my blessing, but so does Alan Pardew because Alan is a good friend of mine and he has been out of a job.

"Whatever the hierarchy of Newcastle decide, who am I to comment on it? It is the job we are in and the industry we are in.

"People think I'm crazy - well I'm not, the game is. It is ludicrous, but whatever direction Newcastle are going in, you'll have to ask the owners. I am not qualified to talk about that."

He added: "I don't feel sorry for him (Hughton), but I feel shocked given how well he was doing.

"Sometimes you can see the axe falling, you can pre-empt it or think 'that is likely to be me', but I don't think anyone in football knew that was going to happen, unless they were party to the negotiations about whether they were going to give him a new contract.

"Only people inside the club know that, but from a football point of view I think the way his team played and the way the fans were with him, he did a fantastic job and that is all you can do.

"Unfortunately, sometimes even when you do that, you still lose your job, but Chris is a fantastic fella, I hope he keeps his dignity about it all and he'll move on to better things for him."