Alan Pardew contacted over first job in English football in six years

ALAN PARDEW has emerged as an early contender for the vacant manager’s job at Burnley.

The Clarets have made contact with the former West Ham, Newcastle and Crystal Palace boss as they start the search for a successor to Vincent Kompany.

Pardew, 62, is looking to get back into English football and is keen on the challenge to get Burnley promoted straight back to the Premier League following relegation last season.

He has also managed at Southampton, Charlton and West Bromwich Albion.

Former Chelsea boss Frank Lampard plus his trusted coaching sidekick Ashley Cole have also been linked with the job.

Kompany left Turf Moor last week to take up a surprise appointment as new boss of German giants Bayern Munich.

Experienced Pardew has also worked abroad with stints at Dutch side Den Haag, a spell as director of football at CSKA Sofia and with Aris Thessaloniki in Greece.

He has won 359 of his 851 games in charge as a manager.

But he has not coached in England since he was dismissed by West Brom in April 2018.

Pardew lasted five months at The Hawthorns, winning just three of 21 matches at the helm.

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His biggest managerial achievements include securing promotion to the Premier League with Reading and West Ham.

He suffered FA Cup final defeats at both West Ham and Crystal Palace.

Pardew also steered Newcastle to a fifth-place finish in the 2011/12 campaign, qualifying them for the Europa League where they went on to reach the quarter-finals.

In March, the English coach was linked with becoming chairman of the League Managers Association, before ex-Celtic and Aston Villa boss Martin O’Neil landed the role.