Alan Pardew reflects on infamous incident involving his West Brom players and a taxi in Barcelona
Four senior players were forced to apologise after they were accused of stealing a Spanish taxi while on a team-bonding trip
Alan Pardew admits the incident involving his West Brom players and a taxi in Barcelona derailed the club’s survival bid.
Jonny Evans, Gareth Barry, Jake Livermore and Boaz Myhill were all accused of stealing a taxi during a team-bonding trip to Spain in the middle of their relegation dog fight last season.
The Baggies went on to lose eight consecutive games before Pardew was fired, leaving them destined for relegation when Darren Moore took charge for the final six games.
And Pardew, speaking on Goals on Sunday, reflected on the impact the incident had on West Brom.
“Prior to that incident and that trip, it was meant to be a team bonding trip, we had a fantastic result,” he said.
“We beat Brighton in the league, we went to Liverpool and beat them in the cup. After the Liverpool game, I honestly felt that we were there or thereabouts and we were going to make it really tight for everyone else.
“But the Barcelona thing was a terrible incident. And obviously the players let themselves down, let the club down and let me down.
“From that moment forwards, we never got results to banished that thought, so it was always in the background.
“We had just got some momentum and we lost it with that incident. The senior players involved were a big, core part of my team.”
However, the 57-year-old, who has been out of work since his West Brom sacking, also took some responsibility for the way things panned out during his time in the Midlands.
“The toughest thing is for West Brom because it didn’t work out,” he continued.
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“The fans and the people who work there gave me everything they could in terms of backing but, it just didn’t work out.
“That can happen sometimes. My own reflection on it is that it’s just a shame it didn’t work out because I really wanted to be a success there.
“When you’re an experienced manager you have to hold your hands up and say, I made some decisions there that didn’t work out.”