Members of Newcastle United’s supporters club have voiced their concerns that Alan Pardew has left over a silly misunderstanding.
Pardew looks set to take over at Crystal Palace, who were looking for a new manager after realising they had no legal obligation to employ Neil Warnock.
While Pardew’s move seems to be a step down the football ladder, the 53-year-old appears to have been wowed by the possibility of being treated with mild contempt from the home fans.
“I know I’m being paranoid, but I just get this slight feeling we might have said or done something to make Pardew feel uncomfortable,” Newcastle season ticket holder Matty ‘One Belly’ Rodgerson told FourFourTwo while neatly folding up a ‘Pardew Out’ banner.
“I keep racking my brains to think if we may have done anything that he possibly took offence to.
“Maybe one or two of us kept our shirts on during the Everton game, or maybe he didn’t like that joke I made about him looking like a bank manager.
“I’m stumped. Unless it was the whole prolonged, vitriolic hate campaign thing, but I can’t imagine it’d be that.”
“I hate the idea of a manager leaving because he feels we don’t like him,” fellow fan Stevie ‘One Belly’ Michaels explained.
“It gives this image of us as being irrational malcontents who...”
Believing he had seen Pardew, Michaels immediately broke off and began emitting a deafening jeering sound before realising the man in question was actually the manager of a nearby branch of Barclays. He then returned to stencilling 'Carver Out', 'Sherwood Out', 'McClaren Out', 'McCoist Out' and 'Coloccini Out' on five bed sheets.
