Pardew made a big effort to court the HF when he became manager: going to their pub, being very complimentary about them and generally trying to get them onside, knowing they have influence within the fanbase and the club itself. He's been rewarded with their unswerving loyalty throughout last season's terrible run and, so it seems, this season's slump too.

Ian Holloway's stint in charge became untenable when the fans turned on him after the Fulham game. The HF were central to that change of mood in the fanbase and Holloway's subsequent decision to quit.

This leads me to wonder: are the HF still behind Pardew and is this partly why he's still in the job? Are they crucial to his chances of staying in the post and, should they turn on him, will that be the moment his position is no longer tenable, as was the case with Holloway?

I believe the longer the HF stay loyal to AP the harder it is for the club to sack him; they won't want to risk alienating such an important section of the fanbase. If results don't pick up and the HF remain loyal to AP, will Parish have the balls to go against their wishes and sack Pardew anyway?

Interested in others' views on this.

"You can feel the stadium jumping. The stadium is actually physically moving up and down"
FA Cup MOTD 24/4/16

If it's the HF who now decide the running of this club, then I'm out. We managed just fine before they turned up and we'll manage just fine when they piss off. If that's who Parish gets his instructions from then he's a complete tit.

Bexley Dave

Can you hear the Brighton sing? I can't hear a ******* thing!

"The most arrogant, obnoxious bunch of deluded little sun tanned, loafer wearing mummy's boys I've ever had the misfortune of having to listen to" (Burnley forum)

The HF from a fans perspective are one of the best things that has happened at the club for years........but a chairman not sacking a manager because he is popular! I doubt any chairman yet alone Parish would listen to a group of fans on such matters. It's a performance business and dependant on results not fans singing a name.

I'm sure the HF don't wear rose-coloured spectacles and want this club to be successful, the same as the rest of us. I'm guessing they'll turn on him this weekend if we lose, if they haven't given up on him already...

If we lose two or three nil the boos and "Pardew Outs" will drown out any noise from the HF and he'll be gone by the morning.

They had influence with other managers because they were woeful at this level and belonged in the lower leagues and only the blinkered and family members of Warnock and Holloway would have disagreed.

Pardew for all his faults and terrible run has earned his Prem wings otherwise he would have been gone long ago.

Edited by Kermit8 (01 Dec 2016 5.24pm)

Big chest and massive boobs

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Seth I was actually chatting with 2 of the "top boys" 😜 at the Swansea game (lovely lads to be fair with good hearts and much smarter than they look) They had both had enough of Pardew as that was before we kicked off. Not that their opinion matters a jot to Parish like other posters have suggested. I imagine they'll support team to the end as we all should. Then lay into players and Pards as we wish after another defeat from a mistake by Kelly, Hennesey, poor marking from a corner to let Austin score or some weird sub by our gaffer when we're holding our own 😜