A five and a half year contract defies belief, especially as Pardew (who was thrown to the lions at his first press conference without the appearance of Derek Llambias or Mike Ashley) will end up with a wad of cash whether he succeeds or not.
Ashley showed his new "puppet" no respect as he let him face the media alone - and has that ever happened before in Premiership history?
Alan Pardew: "The attraction of a club like this is the love the fans have for the club. At West Ham, it was a similar kind of love.
"It is passionate, almost bordering on religious, and you have to understand that.
"We carry a huge responsibility, the management team and the playing staff, to try to fulfil that criterion.
"It's a pressure and you have to perform every week, so I am hoping we can play a brand of football and in a style that the fans enjoy and love, and get them behind the team.
"Hopefully, that will start on Saturday.
"It will be slight apprehension because I know there is really good feeling for Chris and a lot of the fans are sad that he has gone.
"I'm afraid there is nothing I can do about that. I am sure they will want to pay their own respects to him in their way.
"But I hope then we focus on the game and win the game. That is the most important thing on Saturday for me.
"I will just go out and focus on the 11 players, that they are doing the jobs I hope they can do to the best of their ability and we come out victors.
"I have a way of playing which is usually very positive, on the front foot looking to win the game no matter what our set-up is, and when we come up against the difficult sides, have a strategy to win the game."