Pardew wrong not to offer Newcastle fans an olive branch in cups

The last time Newcastle won a trophy was in 1969, when they lifted what was the precursor to the Uefa Cup.

With the side bottom of the Premier League after five games, winning that competition, which was already a far-fetched dream, is dead-and-buried.

So in order to try and find some happiness in their hobby, Magpies fans are imploring their club’s manager, Alan Pardew, to make a real run in the cup competitions.

The north-east side haven’t made it to the fifth round of either the FA or League Cup for seven years and with such a poor start to the season clouding over the former West Ham boss, a win at Crystal Palace could lift some of the pressure on him.

However, being the bullish man that he is, Pardew is set to ignore the pleas of his supporters and rotate his senior players for the trip to London.

Palace are 7/5 to win the game, which given the likely weakened side they’ll face and their opponent’s dire record in the knockout tournaments, is a price that should glisten like a freshly glazed doughnut to a policeman.

With the St James’ Park club so focussed on staying in the Premier League, it’s likely that Remy Cabella, Jack Colback and Mike Williamson join Papiss Cisse, Yoan Gouffran and Tim Krul in the absentees list.

Should he lose, the calls for Pardew to be sacked will grow louder and the temptation for Mike Ashley to stick with his man could well dwindle.

Regardless of how much momentum a win could give their fight to climb off the bottom of the league, Newcastle fans are in for a frustrating night as they watch another season where survival is prioritised over silverware.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.

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