Video: Didn’t see Alan Pardew pushing the linesman yesterday? Here you go

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRmjJV3v0Zo

It was the opening day of the Premier League, it was hot and emotions were running pretty high. Still no excuse for Alan Pardew to push a linesman though, right?

The Newcastle boss lost his cool on the touchline midway through the second half of yesterday’s 2-1 win over Spurs, after Benoit Assou-Ekotto played on despite the fact that the ball appeared to have gone out of play.

Nothing came of the incident, but it was enough to raise the ire of Pardew, who rushed from the dugout and pushed linesman Stuart Burt in fairly innocuous fashion.

It was still enough to earn censure from referee Martin Atkinson, who banished Pardew to the stands for the rest of the contest. Because the hosts eventually won, Pardew was in good humour afterwards and was in a conciliatory mood towards his victim.

"There's me telling my players to behave themselves and follow the Olympic spirit and be humble, and they did it except for me," he said.

"It was a stupid moment - the linesman just happened to be standing right in front of me when I thought the ball was out, and I gave him a little shove. I have apologised and I can't turn the clock back, so I will have to take my punishment."

Pardew will probably earn himself a touchline ban because of the incident even it was fairly harmless, although a few people pointed out on Twitter that a far bigger deal would have been made of it had it been a player who got all pushy towards the official.

What do you think, should Pardew face censure or is it all just a storm in a teacup?

Have a look at the incident in the video above and see what you think.