Pardew Should Have 'Lamped' The Mackem Leprechaun!

08 March 2012 12:13
Alan Pardew has escaped official Football Association punishment for trying to 'lamp' The Mackem Leprechaun on Sunday.

The Newcastle boss was physically restrained as Martin O'Neill tried to cowardly hide behind fourth official Lee Mason.

Pardew advanced aggressively towards the cowering Martin O’Neill (pictured right) in the wake of a penalty being awarded to Newcastle, and the fourth official saved the Irishman's skin.

Had Mason raised the Newcastle manager’s conduct in the official’s post-match report, the incident would have been considered further, but he decided not to take the matter further.

An FA spokesman explained: “The match officials, with their considerable experience of the game, will consider the behaviour of a participant on a case-by-case basis and decide whether they believe it has gone above and beyond what is deemed as acceptable behaviour and become irresponsible.

“This matter was dealt with by the match officials at the time and the FA are satisfied that no further action is necessary.”

The Mackem Leprechaun, who was allegedly in tears at the time, got over the trauma with a cup of tea and a biscuit.

Alan Pardew: “Yes, I do regret it.

“I’ve seen it back on the TV and it looks terrible.

“It was just relief, sheer relief that we had got a penalty – I’ve never done anything like that before.

“It just shows that the pressure of the game can get to even older managers like me.

“Unless you’re a manager or player at this football, you can’t really appreciate the pressure there is around this particular football game.

“There’s a lot of pressure building up all week, there’s a lot of emotion building up.

“Maybe my bench and their bench could have handled it a bit better and been a bit more grown up about it.

“If one or two of us, including myself, crossed the line then we can only apologise.”

 

Source: FOOTYMAD