Pardew – The Verdict; Hysteria, Hypocrisy, Bias or Justice?

Article by e-Newcastle Correspondent Martin Black

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While not wanting to condone the actions of Pardew, let’s take this aside and examine how this has been reported. Did his actions justify such rabid hostility from certain quarters, or would it be biased as a Newcastle United fan to say it has been blown out of proportion?

The club actually received some positive press, for once, by the way it swiftly and calmly it dealt with the situation, by fining Pardew £100,000 and issuing him with a formal warning.

This calmness is remarkable when compared against the hysteria that has been whipped up by the press and certain pundits, some of it pure hypocrisy. Let’s take a look at some of it;

Robbie ‘Lilly’ Savage: "Pardew shouldn't be allowed in the ground for the last 10 games of Newcastle's season. How can you manage a group of players when you have done that to one of their fellow professionals? I thought his position as manager was untenable before the club released their statement."

The grand pantomime dame herself. Somebody who spent their whole career in niggling confrontation with authority and opposing players alike, and can be afforded no respect. He can be dismissed as a poor man’s Vinnie Jones, with a wig.

Graeme Souness: "That is a sackable offence. I've been frustrated and upset by a number of things, but I've never gone down that road."

To which Pardew rightly responded: “It’s a bit strong coming from him. He’s the man who took a flag and planted it in the middle of an Istanbul derby.”

That would’ve been a mad enough act in a Tyne Wear derby if he’d planted the flag at the SOS when he was our manager but in front of a Turkish crowd, a derby one at that? Just ask any Leeds fan what they can be like. Could easily have sparked a riot.

Freddie Shepherd: "He has got that for the rest of his life. That will be on his back for the rest of his life."

This is rich coming from the man who was caught in a Spanish brothel insulting his own fans and players on tape. He was also the man who sacked Sir Bobby for finishing 5th, and then replacing him with Souness, enough said.

Richard Bevan: League Managers Association chief executive Bevan has labelled Alan Pardew "insupportable".

On their site they state ‘The League Managers Association is the collective, representative voice of all managers from the Barclays Premier League, the Sky Bet Championship and Sky Bet Leagues 1 and 2.’ It continues; ‘since its inception in 1992, the LMA has continued to develop its support and service offering to its members and its influence within the game.’ It then goes on to explain the six major aims of the LMA. It first one is;

To represent the interests of the professional football managers to The Football Association, Premier League, Football League and all the game’s other governing bodies and stakeholders.

Does what Bevan said go against the LMA’s own principals? Regardless of what his own personal feelings were, he should have kept them to himself. To state them was extremely unprofessional, and he should have remained impartial.

Roy Keane: He refused to be drawn into the row when asked about Pardew’s behaviour. He said: “I have no comment on it, I have no real interest. It’s none of my business.” Some common sense from a man who could never be accused of having any bias towards Newcastle, after being sent off twice at St James while playing for Man Utd, and then managing the mackems.

He did back Meyler (along with Bruce) for how he handled himself. ‘Handled himself’ seems to mean he deserves praise just because he didn’t roll around like a big girl, although it could be argued that Meyler instigated the whole incident by slamming into Pardew.

It has recently been reported that he was contacted by the Police and in a statement released last Saturday, Supt Rich Kirven, of Humberside Police, said the midfielder had not reported any injuries and had “expressed his wish for the police not to proceed with an investigation”. It’s good at least to see the ‘victim’ of the incident not wanting to pour petrol on the flames.

Joey Barton: No stranger to controversy or a headbutt himself commented; ‘Seen Pardew incident. As per usual. Massively over-hyped. Don't let a couple of stupid incidents detract from the job he has done at Newcastle. Especially with what goes on behind the scenes there.’ More common sense, or bias from an ex Newcastle player who knows Pardew?

Alan Shearer: Shearer described Pardew’s position as ‘untenable’ and added ‘Frankly I wouldn't be surprised, and I don't think anybody will be surprised at all, if Alan Pardew were to resign over this. Even if he doesn't want to resign, the club might be saying to him, we might be doing you a favour - you resign rather than us sack you', because that will have to be in his thinking also’.

It’s a shame that one of our own has to get involved in the hype, you get the feeling that he comes out against us to prove his impartiality, to ensure his seat on that panel of the terminally smug on MOTD. Let’s not forget he was the man that rumour has it held the FA to ransom by threatening to not go to the then upcoming ’98 World Cup unless he was cleared of the Neil Lennon incident.

Precedent: Now that it has emerged that some sort of precedent had been set back in 2007 when Kidderminster Harriers then boss Mark Yates headbutted Exeter City’s Lee Elam in a Football Conference match. Yates was handed a four-match suspension and was fined £350.

Pardew is bracing himself for the worst. But will the severity of the sentence match the crime; or will it only fuel our Geordie paranoia that the rest of the country has it in for us and treats us as a laughing stock? A situation only intensified by our present owner.

The F.A’s Verdict: Not surprisingly found guilty.

Sentence: A seven match ban, the first of three being a stadium ban, the remaining four a touchline ban. Also given a £60000 fine and warned as to his future conduct, which the club and Pardew have accepted.

Harsh, not as quite as harsh as some had wanted though. Although it was obvious Pardew wasn’t going to get a fair hearing, but how contaminated was this sentence by the comments and reactions of idiots like Savage etc?

Another interesting question thrown up by this is the clubs reaction. Does this debunk the theory that Kinnear was brought in purely to push Pardew out, as it seems that Ashley had a viable excuse to release Pardew from his long term contract? Or has he just got him by an extra twist to the short and curlies?

The players themselves have apparently closed ranks to stand by him, for which can only be a blessing and a sign of unity. Should we do likewise? As like it or not, as a recent headline in the Chronicle said ‘He’s a nutter, but he’s our nutter’.

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