Too lenient, too harsh or just right?
The Newcastle manager was handed a seven-match ban by the FA today as a result of an incident with Hull City’s Irish midfielder during the Premier League clash between the sides earlier this month.
While calling it a headbutt might be stretching it a little (as you can see below) it was still an unbelievably stupid thing to do by Pardew, who has a chequered history when it comes to touchline misdemeanours in the past.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IiP9F9VW-Fs
Pardew will incur a stadium ban for three of the seven matches and a touchline ban for the remaining four games, while he also has to pay a £60,000 fine and was warned about his future conduct.
A statement from the FA read: “Newcastle United manager Alan Pardew will serve a seven-match suspension with immediate effect, subject to any appeal, after he admitted an FA misconduct charge.
“An Independent Regulatory Commission today [Tuesday 11 March 2014] ruled the first three-matches imposed are a stadium ban with the remaining four a touchline ban.
“Pardew was also fined £60,000 and warned as to his future conduct.
“He was involved in an incident with a Hull City player in the 72nd minute of the fixture on 1 March 2014.”
Considering that Pardew already copped a £100,000 fine from his own club for the incident, it has proved to be a costly moment of madness for the Newcastle boss and, more than any of his other offences in the past, should encourage him to keep a cooler head on the line in future.
