Pardew Gets Vote of Confidence

Terence Brown and Alan Pardew have been quick to respond to suggestions in the tabloids yesterday that Pardew was furious with the chairman when he entered the dressing room after the Chesterfield game. Pardew says,

"I would like to rubbish these suggestions straight away. The Chairman came down to the dressing-room area after the match, put his arm around me and said: 'Come on, we've been here before, we'll sort things out and turn it around.'

"He then went and spoke to some of the players and gave them similar encouragement. He was nothing but positive and supportive, and the claims that have been made in some papers today are completely untrue.

Terence Brown also responded to the accusations,

"I went down to the tunnel area to make sure that Alan was okay after what had been a very difficult night.

We talked about a couple of positive aspects involving the performances of one or two players, but nothing negative or critical was said.

"Of course Alan was hurting, but I put my arm around him and told him that everything would be fine. It is disappointing that one or two sections of the media have made such suggestions, but they will not distract us from working hard to turn round the team's current situation."

Despite these quick denials it has not stopped the papers today speculating about Pardew's successor. Alan Curbishley, Sven-Goran Eriksson and Claudio Ranieri have all been linked with West Ham today.