Newcastle United manager Alan Pardew has been handed a record seven-match ban for head-butting Hull City midfielder David Meyler. In addition Pardew has been fined £60,0000. That is on top of the £100,000 fine that Newcastle gave him.
The FA announced the punishment in a statement which read:
“Newcastle United manager Alan Pardew will serve a seven-match suspension with immediate effect, subject to any appeal, after he admitted an FA misconduct charge.
“An independent regulatory commission today [Tuesday 11 March 2014] ruled the first three matches imposed are a stadium ban with the remaining four a touchline ban.”
Those penalties were expected but what I did not expect was that the FA would hit Pardew with a stadium ban. That has never happened in the history of the Premier League.
Pardew will be banned from Craven Cottage for Newcastle’s match at Fulham, and then from St James’ Park for the home games against Crystal Palace and Everton. The touchline bans will kick in for the games against Southampton (away), Manchester United (home), Stoke (away), Swansea (home).
This is the longest ban ever handed out to a Premier League manager, and not since Brian Clough was banned from the touchline, from February 1989 until the end of that season for hitting fans who invaded the pitch, has a manager at an English club been given such a stiff punishment.
After hearing the bad, Pardew said that he would not appeal and said in a statement:
“As I have made clear, I deeply regret the incident and again wholeheartedly apologise to all parties for my conduct, which I understand was not acceptable.
“I will accept the punishment handed down by the FA today. My focus now turns to preparing the team for this weekend’s game against Fulham and finishing the season as strongly as possible.”