Pardew was born in Wimbledon, but his early years on a council estate – and his time in charge of West Ham United – equipped him for one of the toughest jobs in English football, managing Newcastle United.
Alan Pardew: “I’m from a council estate, and I’m a working class person – I understand what they want.
“I understand that they want not just a winning team, but a team to play the right manner. I don’t want to ignore that.”
“It’s the same at West Ham.
“Sam Allardyce is coming under the same criticism he had here because there is a style element to these clubs.
“Definitely, my experience at West Ham has helped me with this club, more so than every other club I’ve been at.
“Although there are less West Ham fans in terms of volume, the passion’s very similar.
“They love their club. It’s a working-class club. What I consider to be the main bulk of fans – even the corporate fans – are probably all from working class backgrounds. That gives it its own special feel.
“I don’t necessarily think any manager wins over fans.
“What you’ve got to hope for is that you’re respected by the fans for doing the best possible job with the resources you had.
“I think I’ve done that with the exception, maybe, of Charlton, where things didn’t go my way.
“I had some issues there that were out of my control. I took over the team and we only had 10 points – there’s a million stories I could say about that.
“I didn’t think it went well on my part, as much as anything else that went on there.
“At every other job, I brought a level of success, probably West Ham’s best finish and a cup final appearance.
“At Southampton, I was only there a year and we won a trophy. I started on minus 10 points, and at Reading we got a promotion and were top of the Championship.
“I brought a level of success to those clubs that they hadn’t had before for a long period. I want to try and do that here.
“I always thought I should be a manager at a big club, and this has given me a great opportunity to do that.
“My record suggests the better the league I’ve been in, the better success I’ve had.”