There is much speculation as to what punishment Newcastle United manager Alan Pardew will receive from the FA for his head-butting shenanigans at the weekend. There is a precedent though. Kidderminster manager Mark Yates nutted Exeter City player Lee Elam in 2007 and received a £350 fine and a four-match ban. Pardew has already been fined £100,000 by Newcastle. So the punishment already seems out of kilter. Mind you, according to the Express & Echo headline from 2007, Yates also had to face a butt probe. Looks like Pardew got off lightly.
I'm afraid there is only one story dominating the back pages tomorrow. Newcastle win away 4-1, the first time in six years that they have scored four away goals in the Premier League, and it barely warrants a mention. As a Newcastle supporter for more than 50 years I am no longer shocked by anything the club does. But at least it gave the headline writers some fun. I have to say the Express's 'No butts: Pards must leave' is the pick of the bunch. I quite like 'Pard nut' too. Tonight the club issued a statement that said Pardew would be fined £100,000 and it was drawing a line under the matter. It was a bit of a fuss about nothing really, handbags in the heat of the moment. That said, as someone who ran a kids' football club for 18 years, I despair at a 52-year-old manager behaving like a petulant schoolboy. Anyway, there wasn't much to laugh at in all of this ... except maybe Jeff Stelling's reaction on Gillette Soccer Saturday. Watch it here.
