Former Newcastle United midfielder James Perch has made some explosive claims about former Magpies boss Alan Pardew and current owner Mike Ashley.
In a detailed interview about his spell at St James' Park, Perch, who currently plays for Mansfield Town, has revealed he has not spoken to Pardew in eight years since his departure to Wigan Athletic in 2013.
After impressing in a holding midfield role, having initially joined the club as a right-back in 2010, a lot of Newcastle fans were sad to see Perch leave the club having been a part of the side that had reached the quarter-finals of the Europa League.
His departure saw Newcastle fans offer their well-wishes but it left a sour taste in the mouth for the 35-year-old as he claims Pardew reneged on the promise of a new contract.
“I left in a bit of a storm,” Perch told Planet Football.
“It wasn’t nice because the two years before were when I enjoyed it most at Newcastle. I was promised things that never happened. It was sad, but I thought it was best to leave then.
“Alan Pardew said I’d get a new contract in January 2013, but by the time the window had closed he’d signed a couple of players like [Moussa] Sissoko and [Massadio] Haidara and said, ‘We’re not going to offer you one now.’
“He’d got my hopes up and then just pulled it off the table."
However, it was Pardew’s testimony against Perch’s former team-mate Jonas Gutierrez, during the Argentine’s successful court case on disability discrimination grounds after his release in 2015, having battled testicular cancer, that he claims really soured his relationship with the former Magpies boss.
“I saw Jonas for lunch in Nottingham and he showed me what Pardew had said about him," Perch added.
"He was one of the most professional players I ever played with and I love him to bits. I thought it was a disgrace and I will never speak to Pardew again. I’ve got no time for him.
“He was saying Jonas wasn’t good enough to do this and that, to be in his first team. As I was reading it, I was thinking, ‘Jonas played left-back because the gaffer needed him to, he played centre midfield because the gaffer needed him to.’
“It seemed like Jonas would do anything for Newcastle and anything for the manager. He played through injury and came back from injuries. All of it that I read, it was just wrong on so many levels.”
Perch also claimed that owner, Ashley, would influence Pardew's team selection.
“I met Mike Ashley three times," he continued.
"When I signed and when he came to the training ground a couple of times. I know he had influence on team selection. I’d be playing on the Friday, then on the morning of the game, Pardew would ring and say I wasn’t.
“I guess Ashley wanted his better assets to play, I wasn’t a £10-15million player like [Cheick] Tiote or Cabaye, I was just a lad from the Championship, even though I was playing better than them.
“Our biggest mistake was not pushing on the following year. We kind of just stood still, whereas you need to try to kick on.
“If you look at Leicester, they sold [Harry] Maguire and bought [Caglar] Soyuncu and [Wesley] Fofana. They’re now consistently challenging for Europe. Newcastle’s model is the wrong one; they think they can buy cheap and sell high and it doesn’t work like that.
“We’d had such a good season and we thought it was the time to spend some money because, at the time, Newcastle in the Europa League was massive, just the name was enough, people would come.
“But we didn’t do it and lost some key players like Demba. Big names are always going to leave when they see a club has no ambition.”
You can read Perch's full, wide-ranging interview with Planet Football, here.
