Crystal Palace Boss Alan Pardew Has Pop At Leicester And Jamie Carragher In Bitchy, Bitter Programme Notes

Alan Duffy

19th, March 2016

1 Comment

Ahead of Crystal Palace’s top-flight clash with Leicester City on Saturday, Eagles’ boss Alan Pardew penned one of the oddest and bitterest set of programme notes you’re ever likely to see.

Spotted by Guardian journo Sachin Nakrani, Pardew’s pre-match words firstly had a passive-aggressive dig at Leicester’s incredible season, saying:

Unlike Leicester we have been unfortunate to lose key players for long periods.

Today’s opponents have been awarded 10 penalties this season, which is double the total of any other team.

Pardew then goes on to take a swipe as Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher, who defended Christian Benteke’s actions in winning Liverpool a late, match-winning penalty against Palace a few weeks ago. He said:

What annoyed me most were Jamie Carragher’s strong comments after the game stating that Christian Benteke was right to go down and win the penalty.

I couldn’t disagree more with those sentiments and it is a shame that so many former and current players share his opinion that diving is a valid tactic.

“Would Carragher have had the same opinion if Wilf (Wilfried Zaha) had gone down in the box in the 94th minute of a massive game at Anfield? I suspect not, but loyalties can blur opinions at times.

Here’s the full piece…

Not surprisingly, Carragher was quick to respond on Twitter…

Now Pardew is no stranger to aggressive (passive or not) behaviour towards both managers and players, and both he and Leicester boss Claudio Ranieir do have previous, with the Italian apparently refusing to shake his hand when the sides met at the King Power stadium earlier this season.

However, this latest bitch-fest implies that the Eagles’ boss is feeling the pressure, with his side, who lost 1-0 against the league leaders on Saturday, still without a win in 2016 and sliding towards the drop-zone.

Posted in Crystal Palace, Managers, Newsnow

Share this article: Email

1 Comment

  1. B13 via Blendon says:

    I’d much sooner read an impassioned piece like this than some PC cut and paste emotionless crap. Pardew can be a tool sometimes, but I couldn’t agree more with his stance on the Benteke dive. And if Leicester have been awarded twice as many penalties as any other side then that raises eyebrows as I doubt that’s been the case in any other PL season.

Leave a Reply