Pardew's MOTD gaffe

Alan Pardew was a rare guest on Sunday evening's Match of the Day 2 and it might be a long time before he's asked back. He has caused a furore by using the word "rape" to describe a Ched Evans tackle on Michael Essien. You know the sort of thing - "he absolutely rapes him there." Those involved in the game love to use new one-liners to describe what's happening and very often they are for effect or humour. However you look at this one, it's a poor choice for a live television audience and naive unless Pardew said it without thinking.

A far more understandable and widely acceptable use of the phrase might have been to describe how we felt when Pardew collected his £1.Xm sacking package earlier this year having steered us headlong towards relegation. The fact that we had to sell our most saleable asset that week in order to make the payment was much nearer the mark.