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Newcastle United Ban Local Press From Talking To Alan Pardew

Getting beat on Wearside was bad enough but Newcastle United have also made the embarrassing decision to ban the local press of Thomson House (Journal, Evening Chronicle, Sunday Sun) from speaking to Alan Pardew after the match.

The decision was apparently made pre-match and from reports agreed by Joe Kinnear, John Irving, Lee Charnley, the press office and Alan Pardew himself. Or if you want it in shorthand, Mike Ashley.

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This has come about because of the local papers coverage of the Time4Change march, which is quite hilarious in itself because most fans were of the opinion that the local papers were soft if anything in their coverage of the anti-Ashley march. With estimates from the Chronicle of 300 at the march compared to the general 500/600 from most others and up to a thousand from the police view. It also appeared in some photos in the papers that prominence was given to younger fans on the march who were also wearing the new shirts featuring Wonga on the shirts.

This incredibly petty move by the club is indicative of how out of touch they are and how badly they handle anything, as though those in charge haven’t got a clue…and/or possibly having to carry out ridiculous snap decisions made by a remote Mike Ashley.

Obviously the Chronicle/Journal/Sunday Sun were supposed to not mention the march at all, I don’t know which situation comedy/farce to best compare this to.

This is a total disgrace and hopefully will now open the local press’ eyes to the futility of giving the club an easy ride in the hope of speaking to Llambias/Kinnear every six months.

With Joe Kinnear named as one of the ‘decision makers’ in this move, while it is good to see him at last doing something, it does make nonsense of his claim that he is only there to help give Alan Pardew players.

As for Alan Pardew, the fact that he has gone along with this disgraceful decision says a lot about him, if this has been going on behind the scenes then it won’t have done the preparation for this match any good whatsoever.

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