Alan Pardew opens up on infamous West Brom 'stolen taxi' incident in Barcelona

Alan Pardew has shed light on the infamous incident involving his West Brom players and a taxi in Barcelona.

In February 2018, four Baggies stars - Jonny Evans, Gareth Barry, Jake Livermore and Boaz Myhill - were accused of stealing a cab during a warm weather training camp in a season which saw them get relegated from the top flight.

The club investigated and players in question were not charged and apologised to teammates and fans.

Reflecting on the issue, Pardew, who took control in November 2017 from Tony Pulis, told talkSPORT: "You obviously heard the media backlash and fans backlash of it all.

"It was how we dealt with it in the changing room I was not happy with, I did not think we dealt with it very well.

"The group got fragmented, part of the squad was over hear and over there and I could not bring it together, and therefore, you're not going to win games.

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"I am not totally innocent in the process of West Brom, because obviously you're the manager, and it comes down to you, the results were not good enough.

"That whole thing manifested, we were not a great team before that incident, after the incident we were really struggling."

Having lost eight on the bounce, Pardew was sacked in April and replaced by Darren Moore, who took charge for the final six games when they were ten points adrift of safety.

Pardew added; "It was only until I got a bit tense around it all, the best thing for everybody was to leave, and that was reflected in results after.

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WEST BROM PLAYER STATEMENT

In 2018, following the incident, the players said:

"We would like to take this opportunity to apologise to our teammates, the head coach, the club and especially the supporters for the events which have been the subject of widespread and negative publicity.

"We felt it important we identify ourselves as the players involved in an incident which occurred during the training camp in Spain this week out of respect for teammates who otherwise could be implicated by association.

"We freely acknowledge and apologise for the break of curfew which we accept represented a breach of the standards of professionalism required of us as representatives of West Bromwich Albion FC."

"Darren came in, who is a lovely lovely guy, and they started picking up results.

"The talent was there, it was just the whole thing just did not work. That is why I was hurt, because I could not bring it together."

Pardew later had a brief spell at ADO Den Haag in the Netherlands, before then moving to Bulgarian side CSKA Sofia in a sporting director capacity.

The 61-year-old's last role was with Aris Thessaloniki in Greece, which he left at the end of last season.

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