• Premier League

Shearer: Pardew's position untenable

Former Newcastle boss Alan Shearer insists Alan Pardew's position on Tyneside is untenable after the manager was fined £100,000 by the club for headbutting Hull's David Meyler.

The FA has confirmed it will look into the incident, which occurred during the second half of Newcastle's 4-1 win at Hull on Saturday. FA chairman Greg Dyke said: "It looks serious and we will investigate."

Pardew, who has six years left to run on an eight-year contract, is facing a significant ban with the referee's report being sent to the FA's disciplinary committee. A charge is likely to be made by Monday afternoon.

Now Shearer, Newcastle's record scorer with 148 goals in 303 appearances, has questioned Pardew's future at the club.

"What on earth can Alan Pardew say to his players when they misbehave?" Shearer, who managed Newcastle at the back end of the 2008-09 season when they were relegated to the Championship, told BeIN Sports. "I have never seen anything like that before, ever.

"Frankly I wouldn't be surprised, and I don't think anybody will be surprised at all, if Alan Pardew were to resign over this.

"Even if he doesn't want to resign, the club might be saying to him, 'We might be doing you a favour - you resign rather than us sack you', because that will have to be in his thinking also."

Graeme Souness, in charge at Newcastle form 2004 to 2006, called Pardew's headbutt a "sackable offence".

"I've been frustrated and upset by a number of things, but I've never gone down that road," Souness told BeIN Sports.

"Pardew has a track record of confronting people - he is extremely passionate, but this passion this time has gone too far."

Newcastle were 3-1 up when Pardew - who was also given a formal warning by his club - and Meyler both went for the ball after it had gone out of play near the visitors' dugout.

Pardew's head then made contact with Meyler, who was booked with the Newcastle boss sent to the stands.

He later said in his post-match press conference: "He [Meyler] was right on top of me and I wanted to just ease him away from me but obviously I put my head in a forward motion. I want to apologise to him, everyone at Hull and obviously my own fans as well.

"I don't think it was a headbutt. It wasn't a motion that was quick. Sometimes when you're on the sideline like that you can get involved in a moment like that. It was an incident that just flared up all around me. I just wanted to get him away, but with the forward motion... you can't do that.

"Of course, I'm not stupid enough to accept there's going to be no punishment. I'll have to accept whatever comes my way. I believe my behaviour over the years has not resulted in too many fines and sitting in the stands, but this one probably will.

"Definitely from now on I'm going to sit down and stay out of the way. I'll have to sit in the dugout - hopefully I'll be in the dug-out, we'll have to wait and see.

"I want to win games. Perhaps I get too involved in it by standing so close to the action. The thing today has told me to go and sit down, watch the game and keep out of the way.

"Sir Alex Ferguson once said to me, 'go and sit down'. I think he was probably right.''

Alan Pardew was sent to the stands for headbutting Hull's David Meyler © Getty Images

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