Pushy Pardew charged by FA

Caught in the act! Alan Pardew has until 4pm Thursday afternoon to respond to a charge of misconduct relating to his push in the back of linesman Stuart Bart during Saturday evening's 2-1 victory over Tottenham Hotspur.

Pardew was immediately sent to the stands by match referee Martin Atkinson where he had to sit and watch the the rest of the game whilst trying to communicate to his bench.

Now I'm all for a manager showing passion and "kicking every ball" with his team, but there is a line that shouldn't be crossed and, unfortunately, Pardew has crossed it and it was only going to be a matter of time before the FA called him up for a hearing.

Of course Pardew was apologetic in the aftermath of the game but I get the sense that he was trying to diffuse the situation prior to a charge being presented by the FA. I think he knew he crossed the line and was trying to make light of the situation which, to be fair, was comical even if it was rule breaking. I mean, watch the video below and see if you think it was a really violent push.

Having said that, rules are rules, and whilst the push isn't exactly of the same scale as those dished out by Paulo Di Canio and David Prutton in years gone by and earned them an 11 and 10 game ban respectively, you can't tell players not to raise their hands and expect managers to get away with the same thing. Think Jose Reina v James Perch from last season...

I think a touchline ban will be in order along with a hefty fine although I wouldn't want to speculate on the level of either. Suffice to say that I wouldn't be surprised if the book was thrown at us as we, and Alan Pardew, aren't part of the "clique" that seem to be on the end of more lenient punishments.

Luckily we have a professional squad with an assistant manager who can carry out a game plan dictated to him in the shape of John Carver so I'm not overly concerned about not having the gaffer in the technical area for just a few games.

I guess we will soon find out what happens anyway...