Pardew deserved a longer ban (Video)

Back on Saturday 18^th August, Newcastle United hosted Tottenham Hotspur on the Magpies opening day encounter. The hosts prevailed victorious that evening, defeating their Premier League counterparts 2-1 at St James’ Park after goals from Demba Ba and Hatem Ben Arfa condemned Andre Villas-Boas to a defeat in his first game in charge of the North London side.

However, the win was overshadowed by Newcastle manager Alan Pardew, who was sent to the stands in the second half following a push on assistant manager Peter Kirkup, with the Magpies boss claiming the ball had gone out of play in the second half of the encounter. Unsurprisingly, the Football Association charged Pardew with violent misconduct and he had been expected to miss a substantial portion of the upcoming season.

Yet, in terms of relativity, Pardew managed to get off the charge lightly, being fined *only* £20,000 and suffering a two-match touchline ban, which will come into immediate effect, meaning he will be forced to watch the games against Norwich City and Everton from the stands. However, the ban for his push could, and perhaps should, have been more.

When taking into account Paolo Di Canio’s shove on Paul Alcock, who received an 11-game ban following the referee’s comedy stumble to the floor, or David Prutton’s 10-match suspension after admitting a to two charges of improper conduct, then it’s fair to say the Pardew could easily have had his ban increased to around the 10-game mark.

The decision can be considered a real slap in the face of the FA’s respect campaign, with some members of the Referees’ Association having every right to feel aggrieved by the decision to suspend Pardew for just two games, despite the man himself admitting to the charge. Yet, it seems unlikely that any further action will be taken against Pardew, regardless of the calls for the FA to up his ban to anything upwards of six-games. 

Comments

[chris11]

What about when Wenger pushed the assistant and only got one match ban? Surely if we are comparing it to other incidents then Pardew got double what he should of done?

Or as per usual one rule for the top 4 and another for everyone else.

[DA]

Have you actually seen your own footage of the 'push'? No, he shouldn't have done it, but all he was doing was getting the official's attention (albeit a bit little over enthusiatically...)

[kinga]

Pardew admitted what he had done was wrong, publically and privately appologised - how many of those you mentioned did that?

Also, who are " some members of the Referees’ Association having every right to feel aggrieved " ?

Rubbish journalism

[lawynd]

So even though Prutton was guilty of two charges of improper conduct and di Canio was red-carded for kicking someone, grabbing another player around the throat and THEN shoving the referee, Pardew deserves the same punishment a single incident? You sir, are on crack.

[Aggaz]

Great points rule for top 4 is totally different for all other clubs wengers was much more serious shove than Pardews and he recieved one match ban shocking.

[Toonroo]

First response is spot on. What an absolute load of garbage this article is!
Not even a writers name, thats how gutless this heap of rubbish is!

[Ketsy]

Officials are so protected it is ridiculous. As DA has said all he was doing was trying to get the linesman's attention, albeit a little enthusiastically. Ifthat was a player doing the same to another player the ref wouldn't even give a foul. It's time the officials were actually held accountable for everything they do wrong and the potential millions of pounds they can cost a club through incompetence instead of all this protection they get.