Andy Munro on the weekend’s big football talking point.

I’m not quite sure who’s the most hated – the Ukranian Prime Minister or the Newcastle Manager. The rage was all brought home to me in my local gym changing room when I stood next to a 6′ 2″ bloke covered in tattoos whose main hobby obviously wasn’t flower arranging. His effing and blinding outrage at Pardew’s ‘crime’  would have filled a swearbox in less than the time it takes to say, “Robbie Savage”…more about that later.

Now nobody condones what Pardew did and, to be fair, he’s got previous, as they would say at one of his previous clubs. However the headbutt was more of a caress and was the type of gesture that nervous people use to warn off others rather than a signal to launch a full frontal attack. The bit of nonsense with the Hull player was partly sparked by the sort of nudging match that you can see in many pubs on a Saturday night.

Not the best example, I agree, but if the argument is that, in future, he will find it difficult to discipline his players then his club are the best people to make that judgement call. The fact that he was hugely apologetic in public is probably the best lesson to be learnt by the arrogant band that make up current Premier League footballers.

Of course, the other view is that it is a bad example for impressionable youngsters but, if that’s the TV yardstick, then I would suggest banning every reality TV show because many of them encourage bad behaviour and unrealistic expectations. In reality, the responsibility for badly behaved youngsters lies purely and simply with the parents.

Anyway, some of the career threatening tackles that are made in the course of  the average televised game are far more worthy of criticism than Pardew’s ‘head nudge’. Of course the biggest irony is the pompous and inflated shock, horror shown by a certain Mr Robbie Savage on MotD. Now don’t get me wrong, as a Bluenose, I loved Robbie before he did the Judas act. However, it was equally true that 99% of the population wanted to punch him firmly in the face for his provocative and aggravating demeanour and I dread to think how many acts of violence he incited. Step forward Dion Dublin.

So what would I do with Pardew? I’d fine him heavily, suspend him from the touchline for six weeks and say that any repeat would mean his manager’s licence would be revoked. But, for pity’s sake, it ain’t a capital offence.