Protest Planned At Newcastle United v Hull Game

20 September 2014, 06:00 | Updated: 20 September 2014, 07:33

A group, calling themselves SackPardew.com, are arranging a protest at St James' Park when Newcastle United take on Hull.

In a statement, the group say:
"The aim of this is to display a united front against Alan Pardew and the current malaise at the club, for which we believe he has not assumed an acceptable level of responsibility."
 
30,000 A4 sheets with “SackPardew.com” in red and blue text on a white background, similar to the SportsDirect.com logo, will be handed out to people at the ground.

There will also be 100 larger banners with their logo on.

These banners are expected to be shown throughout the 5th minute of the match. They say it's to highlight Newcastle's 5 wins in 2014.

During his media conference this week, Newcastle manager Alan Pardew admitted he isn't likely to have a particularly comfortable afternoon.

His side were beaten 4-0 at Southampton last weekend, as fans called for his to be sacked.

He said:
"You get games when it gets away from you totally.

It happened to some top teams last year.

It's bad timing for us and so it's put added pressure on us - and particularly myself. And I'm fully aware of that."

Following that game, Pardew says he has held discussions with club owner Mike Ashley.  

Pardew believes the fans are doing little to help the fragile confidence among the players, but insists Ashley did not add any further pressure during their chat.

He said:
"I’ve spoken to Mike. We had a long conversation on Sunday and obviously he was disappointed in the performance, as he has a right to as the owner, and he reflected that to me.

The one thing we both agreed on was we really needed to focus on Saturday and try to get a win for the football club.

And I think that’s very important that certain issues, particularly the issue regarding me, has to somewhat take a bit of a back seat in terms of the team, because it’s going to be a difficult environment if we have the atmosphere we had at Southampton for long periods."

He adds he hopes his players won't be put off by the negative atmosphere this afternoon:

"The most important thing is that our team don't put in the same performance that they did against Southampton.

We need to show we're unaffected by surroundings, unaffected by the opposition, and that our spirit is strong.

And I'd like to think that we can do that."