What a (knee-)jerk

Fair play to Llambiarse. In light of what happened - or, more accurately, didn't happen - on Wednesday, he could have maintained his silence and left Alan Pardew hung out to dry before the media. But no, he's decided to speak out - and very honourably made himself look a complete idiot instead of his manager.

.com have already highlighted the gaping holes in his reasoning, but let's just dwell on two of the more ridiculous claims:

1. "Work to bring a striker into the club began early in the summer." So, remind us again, Del Boy - when exactly was it that Rocky was sold? Unless I'm very much mistaken, January is not "early in the summer".

2. "Negotiations were complex and protracted and unfortunately it was disappointing that ultimately we could not secure our priority target. We have a very clear transfer policy. We will not make knee-jerk decisions at the last minute which are not in the best interests of the club." So presumably the last-minute bid to poach Costa Rican forward Bryan Ruiz from beneath Fulham's nose was no knee-jerk decision but us making our move for "our priority target". If so, then the negotiations can't have been too "complex and protracted", given that they can only have taken place in the space of a few hours...

That said, Pardew hasn't had the most comfortable couple of days either, learning that he's the subject of this week's FA charge. His comments in the build-up to last month's derby, in which he called for referee Howard Webb to be "astute" and unbiased with regard to ASBO, have been deemed improper conduct. As with Charlton's complaint over the unsettling of Rob Elliot, the charge is ironic in the light of Pardew's counsel to others about the dangers of speaking out of turn.