Pardew deserved a longer ban (Video)

Back on Saturday 18^th August, Newcastle United hosted Tottenham Hotspur on the Magpies opening day encounter. The hosts prevailed victorious that evening, defeating their Premier League counterparts 2-1 at St James’ Park after goals from Demba Ba and Hatem Ben Arfa condemned Andre Villas-Boas to a defeat in his first game in charge of the North London side.

However, the win was overshadowed by Newcastle manager Alan Pardew, who was sent to the stands in the second half following a push on assistant manager Peter Kirkup, with the Magpies boss claiming the ball had gone out of play in the second half of the encounter. Unsurprisingly, the Football Association charged Pardew with violent misconduct and he had been expected to miss a substantial portion of the upcoming season.

Yet, in terms of relativity, Pardew managed to get off the charge lightly, being fined *only* £20,000 and suffering a two-match touchline ban, which will come into immediate effect, meaning he will be forced to watch the games against Norwich City and Everton from the stands. However, the ban for his push could, and perhaps should, have been more.

When taking into account Paolo Di Canio’s shove on Paul Alcock, who received an 11-game ban following the referee’s comedy stumble to the floor, or David Prutton’s 10-match suspension after admitting a to two charges of improper conduct, then it’s fair to say the Pardew could easily have had his ban increased to around the 10-game mark.

The decision can be considered a real slap in the face of the FA’s respect campaign, with some members of the Referees’ Association having every right to feel aggrieved by the decision to suspend Pardew for just two games, despite the man himself admitting to the charge. Yet, it seems unlikely that any further action will be taken against Pardew, regardless of the calls for the FA to up his ban to anything upwards of six-games.