Former Newcastle United owner Freddy Shepherd has revealed that current manager Alan Pardew will not have survived under his regime after such a poor run of results.
Pardew was given an eight-year contract by owner Mike Ashley in what is seen as a strange decision by the club. This has meant that they have been unable to sack him even when the manager was found guilty of head-butting an opposition player during a recent match with Hull city. This led to Pardew being banned from the stadium for three matches and a further touchline ban for several matches.
Despite these problems, Pardew remains the manager at St James’s Park and it is widely believed to be because of the lengthy contract. It would take a lot of money to sack him from the job and it seems that Ashley is not prepared to sanction this amount. Freddy Shepherd, whose controversial regime at the club was ended by Ashley, says that he would not have been as lenient with Pardew’s ill-discipline. The former West Ham manager has been guilty of several such behaviours in the past.
He says that he has been recommended for anger management therapy after this latest incident. Despite the troubles of the pitch, Newcastle are ninth in the table.
“I think the board at the time, not particularly me, with Sir John would have had him on his bike. Who knows the emotion he was going through? I like the guy. I’ve met him and in normal circumstances you’d certainly have a pint with the guy, he’s fine. I think he just lost it that day. Would he have survived if he was at Man U or Chelsea or Liverpool as boss? I doubt it,” said Shepherd.
Newcastle suffered a 4-0 hammering against Manchester United, who are going through problems of their own, last weekend.