Does Pardew talk too much?

It seems as though regular NUFC updates are in plentiful supply these days as Alan Pardew and The Chronicle continue thier apparent love affair and adorn us with information on an almost daily basis.

This is fine in my world really as most of it generally floats over my head. It's the usual stereotypical claptrap that managers around the country feed their respective local press, mainly because each respective local press publication tends to ask the same kind of questions repeatedly.

This is not a new phenomenon of course and is something that has been going on for years, which is why it confuses me when different managers get different levels of stick for it.

I'm using Alan Pardew as the example of this here as he tends to get a fair proportion of criticism when it comes to speaking to the press. He 'loves the sound of his own voice' apparently, which may or may not be true but at the end of the day is it any reason for criticism? I mean at the end of the day is Pardew not just simply answering a question that he has been asked by someone else?

It seems to me as though the club can't win. If someone from the club, whether that be a manager or someone higher up, doesn't reveal enough information then the club attracts criticism for not communicating enough from certain people. If the club loosens the lines of communication and starts responding a bit more to the press then it, or in this case the individual, gets derided for it.

Either way the club can't win, but then I guess it's the nature of the beast - you can't please all of the people all of the time, or something like that anyway.

I'm unsure as to why Pardew gets so much grief for his words in the press, or 'self-promotion' as some have called it. Perhaps it's a culture shock brought on by the differences of approach between Chris Hughton and Pardew when it comes to press matters? I used to love the way Hughton handled the press, but then again it never stopped them printing stories about us to be fair.

The bottom line is that I am struggling to work out just what people want. Do they want someone who will not engage with the press and who refuses to answer their questions? Let's be honest, that isn't going to get us very far and it makes life a lot easier of the press are on your side. It certainly seems to make the headlines a lot easier to read anyway!

In short I guess the moral of the story is not to pay much attention to what is in the press. Managers have certain obligations to the press so they have to talk to them anyway - just think of it as part of the day job. If anything it's us fans that should stop scrutinising each word that comes out of Pardew's mouth.

Still, it's just my opinion anyway.