The career-defining Newcastle United incident that saw Mike Ashley fine Alan Pardew £100,000

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Alan Pardew will always be remembered for one moment of madness at Newcastle United.

The former Toon boss was a fairly good manager in his four years on Tyneside, taking the club back to European football for the first time since 2007 when the likes of Papiss Cisse ran riot in the 2011/12 season.

Alan Pardew took Newcastle United to the Europa League quarter-finals in the 2012/13 campaign but results in the league took a big hit. The Magpies finished 16th that season and fans began to turn on Pardew.

Despite that, Pardew still looks back on his time at the club with some fond memories. The 63-year-old managed some cult heroes at Newcastle including Hatem Ben Arfa.

Pardew revealed Ben Arfa’s antics off the pitch were the polar opposite of those on them, with the Frenchman allegedly being very rude to club staff.

10 years after leaving the club, Pardew will always be known for headbutting David Meyler while Newcastle’s manager, he recently lifted the lid on what was an astonishing incident.

Alan Pardew talks about David Meyler headbutt in 2014

Former Sunderland star Meyler played a blinder in getting Pardew to bite at his antics, despite the Magpies being 3-1 up against Steve Bruce’s Hull City at the KC Stadium. The incident landed Pardew with a hefty fine from Mike Ashley, the FA and a seven-game touchline ban. The Magpies win the game 4-1 but the victory was completely overshadowed by Pardew’s headbutt.

Bizarrely, the moment has been seen by football fans all over the world. A Japanese Newcastle fan cited Pardew’s headbutt as the reason why he supports the club.

• READ MORE – Alan Pardew thought he’d found a ‘different’ player at Newcastle United but Steve McClaren forced him out

Talking to TalkSPORT about the incident, Pardew said: “Meyler sucked me in there he was very clever.

“He kicked me as the ball was running out of play and then on the way back I was giving him a few verbals and he sort of came towards me and I put my head into his head.

“It wasn’t actually a headbutt but when you look at the footage but the media went mental, I had nowhere to go.

“I accepted the charge and Mike Ashley fined me £100,000 straight away to make a stance on it – and that was without the fine from the FA!

“It was an expensive situation and I served my time.”

“To be fair, it was a situation where I should have done a lot better than I did. We were winning the game. We were 3-1 up I think at the time so it wasn’t like I was seething mad.”

Alan Pardew’s record at Newcastle

It’s fair to say that current Newcastle boss Eddie Howe has done a much better job than Pardew in less time. Howe took Newcastle to the Champions League in his first full season at the club and has continued an upward trend with a slew of brilliant performances, unlike Pardew who dropped off after his first year on Tyneside.

Despite that, Pardew still has a fairly positive record at Newcastle, only winning two fewer games than he lost.

Whatever record he had, he’ll always be remembered for that headbutt in 2014. It was an incident that shocked many in football including former Newcastle players. Vernon Anita said he will ‘never forget’ Pardew’s headbutt. Coincidentally, he scored his first Newcastle goal in that game to secure a 4-1 win for the Magpies.

Every Newcastle manager has had their defining moment, like how John Carver berated Mike Ashley in the final game of the 2014/15 season after Jonas Gutierrez scored following his comeback from cancer.

Ashley wanted Carver to stay at Newcastle but Sir Bobby Robson’s former assistant didn’t want to work with Steve McClaren, who succeeded him.