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Pardew turns to Ferguson for lessons in parenting/keeping Joey Barton quiet

Newcastle manager Alan Pardew has sought the advice of the biggest, baddest manager in town before going all legalese on the Toon Twitterati.

HAVING WITNESSED THE baddest boy in the Newcastle United creche throw his toys out of the pram using nothing but a smartphone and a book of semi-obscure quotes, manager Alan Pardew has called in Supernanny Alex Ferguson to help him sort the whole thing out.

As only an unkempt shepherd living miles from a Londis in the Outer Hebrides doesn’t know, Joey Barton was put on a free transfer this week for criticising the Newcastle hierarchy on Twitter.

Pardew – hair pulled out and quivering in the corner – knew that the only person he could call on was Dr. Peter Venkman from Ghostbusters. When he failed to answer, he turned to Fergie.

“I spoke to Sir Alex Ferguson, and United’s policy is that nobody at their club can comment about the football club [on Twitter],” Pardew told the same group of reporters so beloved of his predecessor Joe Kinnear.

“It’s in breach of contract if you are criticising the owner, the masseur, a player, anyone at the football club. Giving out injury news causes problems too.

“We’ve notified the players this morning. They’ve probably seen it as another sort of dictatorial moment from us but we’ve had to issue them legally with a letter to say this is not right, it’s a breach of contract and you have to understand you’re going to be fined and disciplined for that. It can’t happen.

“Sir Alex shared with me quite ferociously how difficult this Twitter issue is for clubs, particularly managers.”

Read: Friday’s Morning Score >