Pardew will still play Barton.

Alan Pardew has today responded to the news that Joey Barton will not be offered a new contract at Newcastle.

Whilst a deal seems a million miles away at the moment I guess as fans we have to hope that the situation will change. It will require a bit of give and take from all parties but whilst Barton is still our player there is still a chance of the stalemate being broken. It won't happen anytime soon though according to Pardew.

“I spoke to Joey on the last day and I think we were both resigned that this contract was going to be a problem,” Pardew told The Journal.

“Both of us are thinking next year we’ll be together and we’ll go on from there. Unless it changes over the summer and there’s a bid in that the board, myself and Joey feel works for Joey, I think he will be here for the start of the season. The thing about contracts is, times change.”

“We decided the best way was probably to wait for the season to end. Joey pulled all the way through and he’ll pull next year, even if he’s in his last year, I know he will.”

Now I'm not privvy to any inside information or anything like that, but for me the sticking point seems to be the length of the deal offered.

That seems to have been the recurring theme in all of these negotiations. Barton quite rightly wants the security of a long term contract and has even, allegedly, offered to take a pay cut to get that security. The club want what is best for them, which is probably to take advantage of Barton's offer of a salary decrease whilst not offering the security that the player is looking for.

Is Alan Pardew upset about it though? Apparently not. As he said earlier he is happy in the belief that Barton will remain as committed to the cause next season, but he also believes that the damage was done way before he arrived on Tyneside back in December.

“I’m not upset about it,” Pardew insisted. “I was more upset when we thought we’d agreed and there was a change of heart. I knew it would be a problem to come back from that."

“There was a lot of history between Joey and the board before I arrived. I just wanted to be honest with Joey and match him with clarity. That’s what I’ve done. I’ve been open and up front with him, I made him the captain."

Once again through the general game of brinksmanship between board, agent and player it's the fans that will be missing out. In fact I have a suspicion that Pardew will also be disappointed about it all, despite his claims that he is not upset about it all. You don't need to be upset to be disappointed remember...

We'll have to wait and see what happens. Half of me is thinking that there is no way back for Barton after his criticism of his bosses whilst the other half of me is hoping that this is much like the Steven Taylor situation which was eventually resolved.

Time will tell, but it doesn't look hopeful at the minute.