Richard Keys involves Alan Pardew & makes a complete fool of himself during Rafa Benitez rant
by Olly Hawkins ·
Richard Keys is at it again - and this time his dig at Rafa Benitez has included a certain Alan Pardew in his attempt that make a point that doesn't add up on so many levels.
You're probably thinking 'just ignore him', but some of the nonsense he posts needs to be addressed incase certain people begin to get brainwashed in his campaign to belittle Benitez and side with Mike Ashley.
In this case, Keys has posted the following set of stats, comparing Pardew and Benitez's wins, losses and money spent during their reign - with him appearing to side with Alan Pardew after he brought us a 5th place finish and Europa League quarter final as a result:
https://twitter.com/richardajkeys/status/1037677989293694977
There's so many flaws here.
Firstly, between 2016-2018, £121m gets your FAR less than £91m - the amount spent by Pardew between 2010-2014. He clearly doesn't take that into account here.
The likes of Ben Arfa, Tiote, Ba and Cabaye cost the club little over £15m. Yes a few of these were absolute bargains unearthed by Graham Carr, but these cheap diamonds in the rough aren't so easily found these days - with any player remotely proven in Europe's top leagues almost certain to cost you north of £10m these days.
Not only that, Keys is totally forgetting the squads Pardew and Benitez have had to play with. I'm not playing down Pardew's achievement when we finished 5th, but he did have Coloccini and Tiote at their best, Cabaye, Ben Arfa and both Ba and Cisse scoring for fun. Compare that to Rafa's last season..
Here's a few responses from Newcastle fans on Twitter:
"It’s all relative. Way back when, you could get a quality player for 10ish M. You could spend 20m and get a Ba, Cisse, Cabaye and Ben Arfa and have change. These days one of those would cost 30ish.""You do realise that Europa league he got to the 1/4 final in was won by Rafael Benitez.."
"Do you not see the clanging point here that £91m in 2011 got you far more than £91m in 2018? Newcastle got Ben Arfa, Tiote, Cisse, Ba and Cabaye for £10m less than they sold Carroll for. And of course a manager can be judged on net spend."
"Are you trying to suggest Pardew is a better manager than Rafa? You’re having a laugh"
"The smell of desperation in your tweets is really uncomfortable reading."
"Disregarding transfer inflation so it fits your agenda. Don't ever put Rafa & Pardew in the same tweet."
Even BT Sports Jake Humphrey got involved to shoot down Keys' nonsensical tweet:
https://twitter.com/mrjakehumphrey/status/1037695776133185536
