ALAN PARDEW left the Sky Sports studio in an awkward silence after admitting to a fallout with one of his former club’s owners.
The ex-West Ham and Newcastle boss, 62, has not managed in England since parting company with West Brom more than five years ago.
Since then, he has coached in the Netherlands, Bulgaria and Greece with little success.
But he appeared on British TV screens on Wednesday evening as part of Sky Sports’ Soccer Special.
Pardew was sat alongside ex-footballers Paul Merson, Jobi McAnuff and Kris Boyd, as well as England cricket legend Stuart Broad.
But when presenter Julian Warren asked him what he’d been up to since he was last seen in the Premier League, things took an awkward turn.
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He began by saying: “I did a bit of a European tour. It was Covid and I got a job in Holland and done a year in the Endesly [Eredivisie] there. That was interesting.
“We didn’t have the greatest of sides but coming up against the PSV Eindhovens and Ajaxs was a real challenge for us.
“Then I did a stint in Bulgaria with a big team there, CSKA Sofia, which were a good club.”
However, when Pardew finished by speaking about his five-month spell at Greek outfit Aris, he sent the studio into an eerie silence by confessing to a disagreement with the owner.
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He added: “And then on to Greece, which was interesting, with a team called Aris.
“We actually had a decent side, was looking for European football – which they gained in the end – but me and the owner fell out so that was a bit tricky.”
Immediately after the comment, a couple of seconds of silence fell on the studio, before they moved on.
And fans were left baffled later in the show when Pardew was giving updates on Doncaster’s Carabao Cup clash with Everton.
After the League Two side netted the opener, Pardew claimed VAR could rule it out for offside.
That was despite VAR not being in operation.
One social media user said: “Are these people for real? Pardew is watching Doncaster v Everton, and after the goal he was saying VAR might rule it out.
“Er, Alan, they don’t have VAR if the game isn’t played at a Premier League ground.
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“You’d think he’d know that as a basic… being a manager recently.”
While another added: “Why did Pardew say VAR was gonna rule their goal out? Does he know something we don’t lol?”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
