He said that exclusive groups are breeding grounds for toxicity at clubs

Pardew has bemoaned the development of WhatsApp groups into football teams

Alan Pardew has slammed the influence of WhatsApp groups on Premier League dressing roams as the former Crystal Palace, West Brom and Newcastle manager bemoaned the role of such groups in bringing toxicity into football clubs.

Pardew was last on the touchline with Albion as he failed to rescue the West Midlands club from relegation from the Premier League. The 58-year-old was sacked after just four months in charge.

His spell at the Hawthorns was marred with calamity after calamity, which reached boiling point when a group of players landed in hot water after stealing a taxi during a team bonding trip to Barcelona.

Alan Pardew has slammed the development of WhatsApp groups in Premier League teams

The 58-year-old was last in charge of West Bromwich Albion during a nightmare four months

The way in which Premier League stars communicate has evolved rapidly this past decade, with the development of group messaging services such as WhatsApp meaning that players are able to talk at any hour of the day.

Most clubs have WhatsApp groups, consisting of only the playing squad, meaning that coaches and other members of staff are excluded from the group.

And Pardew, who has been out of work for a year and a half, has said that such groups can become breeding grounds to allow negative thoughts and attitudes to infiltrate into the dressing room.

Pardew says WhatsApp groups between players brings toxicity into dressing rooms at clubs

'Now, when players are leaving the training ground, they're not leaving the training ground, they're WhatsApping each other and it's now toxic and spreading throughout the whole group, bringing people in,' he told A Pint with Eamonn and the Gaffers, in association with Heineken.

'Suddenly, you arrive at the training ground and there's a strange atmosphere and maybe they've all made a different outcome to what you as a manager perceived the outcome.

'And it's completely out of your control, of course. You can't infiltrate it; you don't want to really because then you're asking for even more problems I would guess. The senior players and toxic players now have a bigger control over the dressing room.'

The Englishman said most managers don't have the luxury of Sir Alex Ferguson (left) in being able to cast aside players at their pleasing

Pardew went on to discuss the delicate matter of having to deal with misfiring big money signings, saying that most managers don't have the ability to cast aside players at their pleasing. Sir Alex Ferguson was one manager whose control at Manchester United allowed him to dismiss players he didn't fancy.

He added: 'Some of us managers don't have that issue. We don't have those same calculations to be able to do that because they're under contract, they're a big player for the club, we can't just isolate them; we have to be a bit more nimble and flexible in dealing with these players.'