Alan Pardew was ‘nowhere near’ West Brom's Cab Four on night in question, says kitman
Alan Pardew was ‘nowhere near’ his four senior players on the night out in Barcelona when they allegedly stole a taxi, according to Albion’s head kit-man.
There had been rumours that the head coach was with Jonny Evans, Gareth Barry, Jake Livermore and Boaz Myhill in the evening before the incident.
Pardew supposedly left the players in question before telling them ‘don’t do anything stupid’.
But Albion’s kit manager Aidan Smyth, who was with the squad in Barcelona during warm weather training, quashed those rumours on Twitter.
Smyth said that was ‘wrong information’ before adding: “Gaffer nowhere near players on night out.”
Pardew had his jacket, wallet and phone stolen on the first night in Barcelona before the four senior players broke his 12am curfew on the second night.
“It was 12 o’clock because it was a Champions’ League night and I think they kicked off at 9pm,” said Pardew. “So it was a sort of ‘go into the city, enjoy a restaurant and watch the game’.
“I didn’t want anybody to break a curfew. I don’t usually set too many curfews and I’ve had many many trips as you can imagine – mid-season, pre-season, end of season with football teams.
“So I do know how to handle players in terms of their conduct. I’ve never had an incident before, so yeah, I’m a bit disappointed.”
It’s also been incorrectly reported elsewhere that Albion touched down from Barcelona at 1.30am on Friday morning.
The Baggies landed around Friday lunchtime before training at the Palm training ground in Walsall in the afternoon.
Smyth, who is known as Jacko, hit back at the inaccuracies.
“No-one home at 1.30am,” said the kitman. “It was reported wrong. In a time where people are in a position of losing their jobs, cheap shots are not that helpful?
“What about the people whose jobs depend on what happens in the next few weeks?
“Of course it’s personal. As the senior kitman of WBA, it’s my livelihood. Do you not think we feel the pain?”
Albion lost 2-1 at home to Southampton in the FA Cup a day later, but the Baggies had 23 shots to the visitors’ five.
Smyth said: “In a game that we were really good second half and hit crossbar twice and an unbelievable save, we just need a bit of luck.”
