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Alan Pardew head-butt: Why the Newcastle manager slammed Graeme Souness and his Istanbul flag incident

Souness had said Pardew should be sacked for head-butting Hull midfielder

James Orr
Monday 03 March 2014 12:40 GMT
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Graeme Souness infamously plants a flag in the centre of the Fenerbahce pitch in 1996
Graeme Souness infamously plants a flag in the centre of the Fenerbahce pitch in 1996

Alan Pardew was quick to slam Graeme Souness after the Scot claimed the Newcastle United manager should be sacked for head-butting Hull midfielder David Meyler during the 4-1 victory on Saturday, offering this barbed response: "It’s a bit strong coming from him. He’s the man who took a flag and planted it in the middle of an Istanbul derby."

Pardew, was of course referring to the infamous incident (video below) in 1996 when Souness, then manager of Galatasaray, planted a massive yellow and red flag in the centre of the pitch of bitter rivals Fenerbahce after Galatasaray won the Turkish Cup final 2-1 on aggregate over two legs.

He created an iconic image and became a hero with Galatasaray fans, but also nearly started a riot in Istanbul.

Despite the cup success, Souness was sacked three weeks later because of his side's poor league position, and warned over his "ungentlemanly conduct" by Turkish FA.

The last team that Souness managed was Newcastle, before he was sacked in 2006 and replaced with Glenn Roeder.

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