Alan Pardew Insists Relegation Battle 'Isn't Over' as West Brom Discipline Barca Stolen Taxi Quartet
Alan Pardew has confirmed that West Brom's troublesome quartet have been disciplined for their parts in the stolen Barcelona taxi incident.
The Baggies boss told reporters ahead of his side's crunch clash with Huddersfield Town (h/t Sky Sports) that Jonny Evans, Gareth Barry, Boaz Myhill and Jake Livermore had been dealt with following the issue that's compounded their current Premier League predicament.
Evans was stripped of the West Brom captaincy after he and his teammates broke a curfew and stole a taxi during the club's warm weather training camp in Catalonia over a week ago, but the centre-back has since been reinstated with the armband ahead of the massive game against the Terriers.
And Pardew, who admitted he is 'still angry' over the event, now wanted to draw a line under that torrid time away and focus on giving the club's fans something to cheer for.
He said: "They've been disciplined by the disciplinary board - there is a little board here that gets together and decides that. We move on hopefully, as best we can.
"That incident magnified our situation and the only way we can get out of that kind of spotlight is to win games.
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"Our focus this week, for me, my staff and team, it's all about winning a massive game against a Huddersfield side that have improved just recently and got a couple of good results.
"We need to win, for our fans and ourselves, for our pride, to show courage and honour in our performance."
The situation that Pardew speaks of sees the Midlands outfit rooted to the foot of the table with 20 points from 27 matches this term.
A victory over Huddersfield would go some way to hauling West Brom within touching distance of their relegation-threatened neighbours and, in quotes published on the club's official site, Pardew added that his players couldn't 'afford to make the points gap any bigger' than it already is.
He said: "The guys around us have had a decent run and have shared the points around. That's probably a worry. We need - for it to work out well for us - four, five or maybe six to fall away a bit. The middle pack are all together and then there's us. We've not been able to cling on.
"For us, the word 'must-win' is bit of an irritant. We know how important the game is. Nothing's over until it's over. 'The Fat Lady' isn't in the room yet."
