Now let’s start the stopwatch ticking, and add a day and a half onto the final time…
How long will it take the FA to deal with Alan Pardew’s ‘headbutt’ incident do we think? By the end of the week, 2 weeks? Or a ridiculous amount of weeks like the Nicolas Anelka race case?
I think it’s wrong what he’s done, and I know previously I’ve cited that we do stupid things in the heat of the moment, under pressure and all that, but this is different; he is a manager, and shouldn’t react to the player no matter what. You can’t even say he was under pressure with the team cruising at 3-1.
David Meyler is a lucky boy too. In my opinion he should have been sent off because to shove a manager out of the way is surely gross misconduct.. Perhaps he was let off because of Pardew’s reaction.
But that’s the incident, that’s what has happened and now we have to wait to see what the FA will do.
Newcastle have already fined Pardew £100,000, which was expected as they have to be seen to do something, and the LMA have come out and condoned it too by way of an ‘investigation into the positioning of the technical area’.
But as the governing body, the FA must also investigate the issue and given the extent of punishments for other managers, such as Paul Ince’s 4-match stadium ban, there is a mound of pressure on them to dish out a hefty punishment.
As I said, all the focus should not be on Pardew though. He’s reacted to a situation caused by Meyler, who has acted out of order too and as such should also face retrospective action, despite the referee giving him a yellow card.
A player can’t be seen to get away with misconduct like that if the manager is going to be punished, so it is a test of the FA’s nerve to deal with the situation independently.
A good point was raised on BBC 5Live’s 606 on Saturday night, that what harm to Newcastle is a touchline, or stadium, ban going to do because they aren’t realistic European contenders, they aren’t going to be relegated, and they are out of the FA Cup, so Pardew could go on holiday now and it wouldn’t make too much difference.
Unfortunately though, I don’t think the FA are going to dish out a suspended ban which will take effect at the start of next season, which would be the best option, because it is unfeasible, and at the same time it would be unfair to place a transfer embargo on the club as a result of a manager’s individual actions.
Robbie Savage suggested that if Newcastle wanted to get rid of Pardew cheaply from this 8-year contract, now would be the time to do it with the ‘gross misconduct’ argument; a valid point given that if any of us went to headbutt a fellow professional at work we would be shown the door almost immediately.
As you might know, I’m not one to condone managerial sackings, but if ever there was a valid reason for it it is now. His volatile nature has come out before; earlier this season he was caught on camera verbally abusing Manuel Pellegrini, last season he shoved an assistant referee, and in his time at West Ham he was accused of being racist, and over the top at times.
Leave it to yourselves to decide what you think, but I think Pardew should have a stadium ban for the rest of the season, and Meyler should be given 4/5 matches for it too.
It hasn’t been a great weekend for coaching staff in general either as Atletico Madrid’s German Burgos was sent to the stands after having a go at the referee during the Madrid derby, and it took a hefty group to contain him!
I wonder how long it will take the Spanish FA to deal with that: 3..2..1.. Go!
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