Alan Pardew: "There was some downtime there towards the end, but people forget at one period my flag was flying up the pole, and I was the Owen Coyle of the Premier League.
"(The FA Cup final) was a fantastic day. We had two play-off finals, got into Europe, and finished ninth. It was a special time. We had a special team, and I've got great memories.
"There were errors made, not just by upstairs, but by myself at times. That was a growing process, and you have to go through that.
"Sometimes pain is good, and I don't harbour any grudges about what happened. I just think about all the good times I had there, and at Charlton and Southampton, and at Reading, where it went really well for me.
"I don't harp on it. My experience there, to my mind, was a fantastic one. I had some great times there.
"It was tough at the start - I had a really tough group, who I inherited, that didn't want to play for the club.
"But I managed to get through that and build a really good side. I left a side that was a lot stronger than when I arrived. I was proud of my achievements at West Ham and I don't harbour any bad feeling.
"I honestly believe that if Dean Ashton hadn't got injured, there's no way I'd have lost my job that year. No way.
"He was absolutely flying. He was England's No.9. It gives me a good comparison to Andy Carroll, because I look at Andy now and, while he's not the same player as Dean, I can see the hunger and the desire to be England's No.9 in Andy.
"Owners have their own agenda. And if you're not part of that agenda, you're not going to survive too long. So I wasn't surprised when the Icelandic group came in that I wasn't around for very long.
"This particular scenario here's really positive. We've got some really good players.
"It is about the future, and I'm so excited about what I've found here, the passion of the fans, and the love they have for their club.
"When you see it from where I've seen it before, it's different to when you see it here. You feel it and sense it – it's massive.
"Wigan was absolutely brilliant – I so enjoyed winning for all those fans dressed up in cricket outfits and God knows what. It was brilliant – it really brought home the responsibility you have as manager of a team this size.
"You have to make a lot of big decisions with good players – it's difficult.
"I made a lot of changes, and people could easily have been critical of me if we'd lost the game, but it worked out. You have to be bold in this division, and teams that are bold usually succeed.
"That's what we're going to be on Wednesday night."
