Pardew fined after seeing red with headbutt
Newcastle United manager Alan Pardew was fined and warned by his club after he was sent off for headbutting a Hull City player while Chelsea and Liverpool claimed convincing away wins in the Premier League yesterday.
Pardew was fined £100,000 ($199,500) and given a formal warning by Newcastle who said his behaviour was ‘‘unacceptable’’, while FA chairman Greg Dyke said the governing body would investigate the incident.
Pardew was sent to the stands by referee Kevin Friend when he headbutted Hull midfielder David Meyler on the sideline after 72 minutes of Newcastle’s 4-1 win at Hull’s KC Stadium and he is likely to face a hefty FA fine and a touchline ban.
In the title race, Germany international Andre Schuerrle scored a hattrick as leaders Chelsea went four points clear with a 3-1 victory at neighbours Fulham while Liverpool jumped into second spot with a 3-0 win at Southampton.
Brendan Rodgers’ side leapfrogged Arsenal and Manchester City after the Gunners suffered a surprising 1-0 defeat at Stoke City due to a second-half Jon Walters penalty.
Manchester City were without a league match as they play Sunderland in the Capital One (League) Cup final today.
The results left Chelsea top with 63 points from 28 games, followed by Liverpool on 59 ahead of Arsenal on goal difference.
Fourth-placed City, who have two matches in hand on the clubs above them, have 57 points.
While Schuerrle’s Chelsea treble, and goals by Luis Suarez, Raheem Sterling and a Steven Gerrard penalty for Liverpool, will make headlines for the right reasons, Newcastle manager Pardew’s name will be splashed across the back pages for the wrong ones.
The unsavoury incident at Hull began when midfielder Meyler tried to move Pardew, who was standing by the touchline, out of the way to take a quick throw.
Meyler was handed a yellow card for his part in the fracas which quickly escalated involving a whole host of jostling players and officials.
Pardew, who was fined £20,000 and banned for two matches at the start of last season for shoving an assistant referee, apologised for his behaviour yesterday.
‘‘I will have to sit down from now on because that’s two or three incidents I’ve been involved in,’’ Pardew said.
‘‘I didn’t mean to do anything aggressive but I did move my head forward and that’s enough. I wouldn’t have got involved if I’d been on the other side of the line. Perhaps it will teach me to sit down.
‘‘It’s a shame because it took the gloss off a fantastic performance from us.’’
Dyke, speaking in Zurich after a meeting of the International Football Association Board (IFAB), said he had watched the incident, adding: ‘‘I’ve only just seen the clip and clearly it looks serious and we will investigate it.’’
Newcastle later issued a statement saying Pardew had accepted a formal warning and adding: ‘‘We have held discussions this evening with Alan who has offered his sincere apologies to the club and it is clear he deeply regrets his actions.’’
Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho was also involved in some drama of his own making yesterday when, by his own admission, for the first time in his managerial career, he did not say a single Fourth official Howard Webb restrains David Meyler of Hull City (7) after a clash with Alan Pardew manager of Newcastle United (left) yesterday. Photo: Getty Images word to his players at halftime.
Mourinho was so upset by Chelsea’s first-half performance at Craven Cottage against neighbours Fulham that he said he just looked at his team and walked out of the dressing room.
They responded with what he called ‘‘probably the best second-half performance of the season,’’ and kept up their great record at Fulham were they have lost once in 13 league games since the hosts were promoted to the Premier League in 2001.
Yesterday’s other match ended in a 1-0 win for Everton with Chelsea loanee Romelu Lukaku scoring the only goal after being introduced as a substitute following his recent injury layoff.