Repairing the damage

Was it official Architectural Metaphors 'R' Us Day at St James' Park today?

Alan Pardew claimed that he would "not close the door" on ASBO following his Twitter fine and subsequent rant and that the transfer-listed midfielder may be on the path back to redemption: "He trained with the development team today and, who knows, he may train with the first team soon".

That seems to hinge on him apologising and agreeing to toe the line, though - unlikely, you might imagine, but ASBO himself implied otherwise. Having quoted George Orwell amongst others in recent days, today he enquired of his Twitter followers: "Does anyone have Isambard Kingdom Brunel's number?" At least he's considering a spot of bridge-building, though the reference to Brunel is about right - it'll take a masterful feat of engineering to span the chasm he's opened up...

Not surprisingly Pardew laid the blame for the whole debacle on ASBO's use of the social networking site, suggesting the situation could have been defused if dealt with face-to-face and in private. Complaining about a lack of Premier League guidance on the issue, he mentioned that, in the wake of a conversation with Taggart, we've now adopted the same policy towards Twitter as Man Utd. Which begs the question: does Pardew ring Fergie up for advice regularly, or was the phone call primarily about something else - the Red Devils' alleged interest in ASBO, for instance?