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.
But the abrupt departure of Pardew has left some Newcastle fans worried that they may have done something to offend the outgoing tactician.
“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.”
The Newcastle job can be an intimidating one for a new manager as fans are unwilling to accept anyone who is less like Kevin Keegan than Kevin Keegan. Keegan himself was often booed when he got a haircut or failed to deliver an impassioned, garbled stream of consciousness in his press conference.
“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.
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