Southampton vs Newcastle: Assistant manager John Carver swears at Newcastle fans

Alan Pardew's No 2 involved in ugly exchange with fans

John Carver and Alan Pardew (Getty Images)

Newcastle United’s assistant manager John Carver was involved in an ugly confrontation with fans before Alan Pardew’s side collapsed to a 4-0 defeat at Southampton.

Pardew is clinging to his job by a thread but even before kick-off the travelling fans made no secret of their desire to see him go. That was enough for Carver to react with undisguised anger, pointing to and swearing at a section of the travelling support who were holding a ‘Pardew Out’ banner.

Southampton 4 Newcastle 0 match report

During the match, the fans subjected Pardew to abuse, singing “You’re getting sacked in the morning” and chanting the name of Hatem Ben-Arfa, who Pardew sent on loan to Hull City. At the final whistle a fan had to be wrestled to the grass by stewards before he could confront the manager. Pardew declined to speak to the press afterwards – a total of seven local and national newspapers have been banned by the club – but he told TV reporters he would continue to prepare the team until told otherwise by Mike Ashley, the owner, who attended the game, and he understood the fans’ comments.

“They are fair because you can’t get beat 4-0 as Newcastle manager,” he said. “It is tough to take and not that easy to digest and not easy for the players either to play under those circumstances. We have to be strong and try and tough it out this week and come back next week.”