Source: FOOTYMAD
Pardew 'I'm The Man In The Middle!'
As predicted ... Alan Pardew was kicked out to face the baying lions alone yesterday ... and answer all the questions Mike Ashley should have been answering. Alan Pardew: “The door is not closed on Joey. “Everybody was very angry this week and there were decisions on both sides that were made with that anger in mind and still at the surface. “I’ve spoken to Joey on three occasions, and perhaps this could all have been avoided if me and Joey had been able to have a normal manager-player chat. “What happened on Sunday will stay in the dressing room, that’s how football clubs should work. But I felt Joey wasn’t pulling with the team and that’s unusual for him. It was compounded by what then happened with Twitter. “I wanted to make it clear to him that he’s got to pull with us if he’s going to stay here in his final year. That’s where we are really. At the moment we’re in a period of reflection. “Joey will dictate (what happens) because he has a contract here for another year and he will decide. But if he wants to stay here, then he has to pull in the same direction.” “I don’t think the situation with Joey (and the club’s rulers) is entrenched. “The decision here will be involving the owners for sure, because there’s a lot of history gone on, and I am somewhere in the middle of it. “I was involved in the Kevin Nolan situation and didn’t think we could agree to the length of the contract. “With Andy Carroll, we had a conversation between all of us and decided to take the action we did. “When it comes to Joey, I think it’s fairly evident that what happened on Sunday, I was a part of it.”
