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The West Ham chief endured a difficult afternoon at the hands of his former club, with Steve Coppell signing Dave Kitson stealing the headlines following a magnificent brace that gave the home side victory.
To make matters worse disillusioned Reading fans barracked their former boss throughout the game. In addition to the statutory verbal abuse hundreds of fans held up banners to signal their anger at Pardew's departure for West Ham last autumn.
The bright spark who made the banners decided merely to use the word 'Judus' to let Pardew know their feelings about the manner of his Madejski Stadium exit. Too bad the clever designer decided not to spell-check their work before printing 2000 odd...
Yet the poorly designed banners did do little to humour Pardew who had a terrible afternoon back at the Madejski Stadium.
"That was probably Reading's best display of the season," he grudgingly admitted at the post match press conference.
"We didn't deal with the atmosphere. Teams like Reading and Millwall may not have the big names, but they do have big players.
"I didn't really know what to expect from the fans but I knew it would be hostile and it certainly was that.
"We have lost our last three away games and all have seen us fail to cope with the atmosphere and hostility this division generates. That was like a play-off game for us and we have to learn how to deal with that. But I can't even talk about play-offs at the moment because we have to earn the right to be there."
The Hammers have now lost their last three away games in a row, a run not good enough for a club that wants to be challenging for a place in the Premiership. On current form the Upton Park side won't even achieve a top six finish.
The 4,500 strong following West Ham brought to the Madejski Stadium clearly weren't impressed with their sides performance. At the start of the game Hammers fans were gleefully chanting 'We've got Alan Pardew,' in a bid to wind up the Reading faithful. But ninety minutes later and the victorious Royals were ironically chanting 'You've Got Alan Pardew'.
Although his record at the Madejski Stadium was impressive and his departure disappointing, the 2-0 win and subsequent admission of inferiority can perhaps begin to exorcise the Pardew ghost that has haunted the club all season.