First published in the Pink on November 14, 2009

WHO is it that we, as football fans, really expect to carry the can for mistakes – and the glory for success?

The difference in the club now and what it was just six months ago is unbelievable.

If you dropped, say, Drew Surman back in the mix at Staplewood, I’m certain he would wonder where he was, such is the change at Saints from top to bottom.

But is it possible to put success – or failure – at the door of just one man?

The reason I’ve been pondering this thought is the esteem Alan Pardew is held in by fans of his old side, Charlton. Or rather, why so many of them hate him for what ‘he’ did to their club.

Is it fair to pin the failings of Charlton Athletic as an entity at Pardew’s door?

Likewise, would we be doing a disservice to so many other people if we raise him on our shoulders as the messiah?

Don’t get me wrong – I think Pardew is doing a wonderful job and I am very, very pleased we can call him our gaffer.

I simply think that fans – and the media, seeing as I come into both camps – put too much emphasis on the faces we see and the names we know when it comes to apportioning blame and credit.

For example, Rupert Lowe is the poster boy for our demise. As chairman, it would be fair to say the buck stopped with him. By that logic, Markus Liebherr is ultimately to thank for Rickie Lambert curling in our second on Wednesday night.

Possibly not an unreasonable statement – we wouldn’t be talking about Saints had Liebherr not ridden into town back in July to offer salvation.

What it does do, though, is fail to recognise the inputs of those behind the scenes, who we don’t see plastered all over the back page or on Sky Sports News.

Liebherr chose Nicola Cortese, who in turn chose Pardew.

He has gone on to formulate a side with the ability to go places and perhaps the most important thing he’s done has been to identify the shortcomings of the club and move quickly to address them.

First Dean Wilkins and then Jason Dodd, plus rebuilding the scouting system that Pardew is on record as saying was well below par.

Bringing in Wally Downes was, in my eyes, a masterstroke. I used to live with a mate who was a Reading fan who would wax lyrical about Wally – who at the time I had never heard of, and I imagine most football fans still haven’t.

It wasn’t long after he came in that the club’s stuttering start transformed into the run we are currently enjoying. Coincidence?

Well, I can’t say for definite but, from the outside looking in, it would seem he is one more cog to make the machine work as it should.

Just the same as Harry Redknapp failed miserably here yet seems to be succeeding so well at Spurs, is Charlton’s failure to meet expectations under Pardew – a reflection on him or the system he was part of there?

Hindsight is always 20-20, so it is easy to say now that Redknapp was never really going to be the man for Saints back in 2004. ‘Appy ‘Arry and Rupert? What were we thinking?

Pardew, Cortese and Liebherr, however, seem to be at the other end of the spectrum – not only singing from the same hymn sheet but practically writing it.

As long as this machine’s cogs are kept turning, I think things have the potential to be very, very good in the next few years.