Pardew Adds Fuel To The 'Derby' Flames

Last updated : 18 August 2011 By Footy Mad - Editor

Alan Pardew: "Joey has been in the press a fair bit this week - more than Joey would have liked and more than I would have liked - but the other thing they will be focussing on is he is a very good player, of course, and they need to stop him.

"Probably that is more of a worry to [Sunderland manager] Steve [Bruce], I should think.

"The assurances I wanted from Joey were that he would be a team player here and do his normal job for the team, and that's what he did, and he was excellent on Saturday in terms of his performance.

"The incident which happened on the pitch was unfortunate and again, he got a lot of criticism for that, but I couldn't have asked for more from Joey on the day.

"As for him being on the transfer list - it's put to bed as far as I am concerned, but football is football and that doesn't mean to say he is definitely going to be here for the season. You can never say that."