West Brom Manager Alan Pardew Feels ‘Let Down’ By Four Of His Players After They Steal Taxi In Barcelona

West Brom manager Alan Pardew has slammed the “unacceptable” behaviour of four West Bromwich Albion players after they were accused of stealing a taxi during a trip to Barcelona.

The club launched an investigation into the incident and then later named the four players in question on the club’s official website as the players offered an apology for their actions.

The statement on behalf of Jonny Evans, Gareth Barry, Jake Livermore and Boaz Myhill read: “We would like to take this opportunity to apologise to our team-mates, 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 team-mates 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. The club has informed us that it will now conduct its own inquiry into the incident and we will co-operate fully. In the meantime, we would like to assure our supporters that this incident does not reflect the determination and resolve we possess to do all we can to recover a difficult season.”

Pardew was unwilling to go into detail regarding what happened, but he admitted to feeling disappointed by the conduct of his squad members.

“We are having an investigation to get to the bottom of it. It wasn’t what we wanted,” he told reporters ahead of Saturday’s FA Cup meeting with Southampton.

“They break a curfew and that is unacceptable and I feel let down by that. There was a curfew on that evening and it was broken. The club is clear it has to investigate properly. But we just want to concentrate on the game now we have 11 games left and are in the fifth round of the FA Cup.”