Alan Pardew blames WhatsApp groups for "toxic" dressing room impact

Pardew left his last job at West Brom by mutual consent after an unsuccessful four months in charge, which saw the Baggies win just one league match out of 19 during his reign

Former Newcastle and Crystal Palace manager Alan Pardew has blamed WhatsApp groups for their increasing impact on the toxic atmosphere in a club's dressing room.

The Facebook-owned messaging app is used by many players as a form of easy communication with their fellow teammates.

Most teams have groups filled solely with members of the playing staff, but no-one from the coaching or management teams.

And Pardew - whose last managerial role at West Brom ended after a nightmare four months - feels these secluded chat zones are breeding grounds for negative emotions which can spill over into day-to-day life at a club.

Speaking on the latest episode of A Pint with Eamonn and the Gaffers, Pardew noted how if he ever had a problem with the manager in his playing days, it was often discussed immediately after training with another player, then forgotten about.

He told podcast host Eamonn Holmes: "Now, when players are leaving the training ground, they're not leaving the training ground, they’re WhatsApping each other and it’s now toxic and spreading throughout the whole group, bringing people in.

"Suddenly, you arrive at the training ground and there’s a strange atmosphere and maybe they’ve all made a different outcome to what you as a manager perceived the outcome.

“And it’s completely out of your control, of course. You can’t infiltrate it; you don’t want to really because then you’re asking for even more problems I would guess. The senior players and toxic players now have a bigger control over the dressing room."

Pardew stated that he would often warn managers who are taking over a new club about any pre-existing WhatsApp groups to make them aware.

He also spoke of how some managers are not afforded the same luxury that Sir Alex Ferguson had whilst manager of Man Utd, where he was able to get rid of anyone he pleased.

"Some of us managers don’t have that issue," Pardew added. "We don’t have those same calculations to be able to do that because they're under contract, they're a big player for the club, we can’t just isolate them; we have to be a bit more nimble and flexible in dealing with these players.”