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Newcastle United manager Alan Pardew has again apologised for head-butting Hull City’s David Meyler, and has accepted the punishment he received for the offence on Tuesday, reports the Daily Express.

Alan Pardew

The clash between Pardew and Mayler took place on March 1 at the KC Stadium, with the Magpies boss shoving his head into the face of the Irishman. After the game, which Newcastle won 4-1, Pardew apologised for his actions, while he was fined £100,000 by his club.

However, that did not prevent the Premier League from imposing its first ever stadium ban since its inception in 1992. Pardew will now be banned from entering the stadium for each of Newcastle’s next three matches, beginning at Fulham on Saturday. When his stadium ban is complete, he will be forced to watch the following four games in the stands, meaning that he will not be able to return to the dugout until the final weeks of the season.

Upon hearing the verdict, Pardew said: “As I have made clear, I deeply regret the incident and again wholeheartedly apologise to all parties for my conduct, which I understand was not acceptable.

“I will accept the punishment handed down by the Football Association today. My focus now turns to preparing the team for this weekend’s game against Fulham and finishing the season as strongly as possible.”

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Gateshead manager Gary Mills says he has got to know his players better during their recent blip in form.

The 52-year-old replaced Anth Smith as boss in September, and just four losses in 20 matches lifted the club from 19th to fourth in Conference Premier.

One win in seven games since has seen them slip out of the play-off places.

54 years and waiting...

Gateshead have not played in the Football League since 1960, but have been a professional club since the summer of 2010.

" I'm still learning about the squad and have done so a lot lately. But I am thoroughly enjoying it and overall, our results have been good," he said.

Since winning promotion to non-league's top-flight in 2009, the Tynesiders' highest finish was the eighth place achieved three years later.

Last season, Smith guided them to 17th after taking over from Ian Bogie midway through the campaign.

Mills took York City into the Football League two years ago but was sacked in March after a poor run of form, despite the Minstermen sitting four places above the relegation zone.

"Expectations certainly went up after having such a good start," he told BBC Newcastle.

"I never made any promises about making the play-offs this year, or next, or the year after. I lost my job at York because of a change in expectation after early success.

"But I'm not saying we're not targeting promotion. I came here because that was a challenge I wanted to take on."

Forest Green Rovers visit the International Stadium this weekend, five months after Mills turned down an approach to become their new manager.

"I can honestly say I have not thought about the decision since. I have a job to do here," he explained.

With back-to-back wins slingshotting Sydney FC into the top four, midfielder Terry Antonis believes his teammates are generating enough momentum to become a genuine title contender.

The Sky Blues were widely written off after their 3-0 defeat against Adelaide United, but maximum points in the past fortnight has breathed new life into the campaign. Though the equal reality is they are only two points ahead of seventh-placed Wellington Phoenix, Antonis says Sydney have turned the corner and could even make a shock run in the finals.

There's been several ongoing questions about club harmony 

''I definitely think we can make the finals because when we play well, we can be a huge force. I even think we can win it,'' he said. ''We just need to keep playing how we're playing right now - playing strong and staying together as a team. We have all the players to do it. I think we're capable of anything.''

There is little doubting the quality in Sydney's team - it is the most expensive squad ever assembled in Australian football - but there's been several ongoing questions about club harmony. Even coach Frank Farina looks to have done enough to survive until the end of the season, despite his fractious relationship with the supporters.

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Antonis is adamant the players and staff are pulling in the same direction at the right time in the season, evidenced by Saturday night's 2-0 win over Newcastle.

''It was a difficult game against a tough side but we dug deep, played well and got the three points. We were patient when we needed to be and followed through on the coach's pre-game team talk, so we're all pretty pleased. It was important to win for our confidence and our ladder position and now the job is to keep going from here.''

Antonis has only just returned from a ruptured thigh that has kept him sidelined and while the plan was to ease back into action, he's rattled off two 90-minute performances - even scoring in his first match back, against Perth Glory.

''I have to say it's been pretty tiring but I'm fine with it and, ultimately, it's the coach's decision,'' he said. ''I've been working hard to get my body right during the week, seeing the physios and looking after my workload and recovery, and it's all coming together.''

Such optimism was nowhere to be seen last year when the injury curtailed a proposed move to Italian club Parma, scuttled his chances of playing for Australia at the under-20 World Cup and denied him a proper pre-season.

''It was disappointing and that was a very tough time. But I had a lot of people there to support me. The whole club got behind me,'' he said. ''I was down, a lot, especially before the World Cup … To miss that was the worst feeling because I couldn't wait to go, but the injury came along and that was it. It was hard to get going again, but once I was surrounded by the people at the club, I felt a lot better.''

Having been tracked by clubs around the world for several years - Everton tried to sign Antonis in his early teens - a move abroad still seems inevitable. But after all that happened in a nightmarish last year, Antonis is keen to just cement his place in the A-League before looking elsewhere.

''I just want to get myself ready for now. I'm not thinking beyond that. Given what's happened in the past year, I can only think game by game until the end of this season. After that, we'll look at what happens,'' he said. ''For now I want to try my best, help the team make the finals and just look at the short term, not the long term.''

The Frenchman is available after serving a three-match ban for his dismissal at Norwich on January 28 and will look to end Toon's four-game spell without a goal.

Centre-back Fabricio Coloccini (knee) and combative midfielder Cheick Tiote (hamstring) could also be available for the Magpies, who are haven't won since their 3-1 at West Ham five games ago.

Paul Lambert's Villa came through a recent warm-weather training camp in Portugal and he expects to have a largely fit squad at his disposal for the Premier League clash.

inter Milan are at the front of the queue to sign France playmaker Hatem Ben Arfa, 26, from Newcastle in the summer – Newcastle Chronicle

Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho remains keen on a summer move for Real Madrid’s 26-year-old midfielder Sami Khedira – Daily Express

Manchester City will be given a second chance to sign 21-year-old Spain attacking midfielder Isco in a £30m deal in the summer because he has failed to settle at Real Madrid – Daily Star

Reports that the England striker Wayne Rooney has signed a record-breaking new contract with Manchester United are premature, the club has insisted – Sky Sports

Arsenal’s attempts to sign Schalke’s Julian Draxler, 20, failed in January because they did not meet the attacking midfielder’s asking price, according to the Bundesliga club’s sporting director Horst Heldt 

Tottenham keeper Hugo Lloris has claimed reports linking him to north London rivals are ‘embarrassing’.

French international team-mate, Olivier Giroud, yesterday said Lloris could be open to moving the Arsenal if Tottenham fail to qualify for the Champions League.

However the former Lyon number one has laughed off claims that he would move to their closest rivals and has his sole focus on achieving his ambitions for Tottenham.

Speaking to the official Tottenham website he said: “I think maybe some words were twisted, but it is embarrassing. I don’t think that. I’m very focused on Spurs’ ambition and I am very pleased to play for Spurs.

“I have too much respect for the club and the Spurs fans to think that kind of thing. Of course I know [Giroud] very well because we are team-mates in the national team – the same with Laurent Koscielny – but I am a Spurs player and I’m very proud to play here.”

It comes after Tim Sherwood admitted it could be difficult to keep some of his stars at White Hart Lane if they fail to secure Champions League qualification this season.

The Spurs boss is keen to tie defender Jan Vertonghen down on a new deal before the end of the season amid speculation that European clubs are monitoring his situation closely.

Tottenham travel to Newcastle this evening hoping to keep up their chase on a top four place. 

The 23-year-old France international has been identified by Newcastle as the man they would like to replace Yohan Cabaye, who is due to complete his move to Paris Saint Germain on Wednesday.

Newcastle have been keeping tabs on the highly-rated midfielder for a number of months, with chief scout Graham Carr giving his approval to the move.

Now Newcastle have lodged a bid, which we understand to be 'substantial', and the club are hopeful that Lyon can be persuaded to sell Grenier.

Lyon have already turned down big money from Napoli for Grenier's midfield partner Maxime Gonalons, but it seems that president Jean-Michel Aulas could do business.

Grenier, who has two years left on his current deal, revealed earlier this week that Aulas had told him he was prepared listen to offers made this winter.

When asked about Newcastle, Grenier said: "I have only just learned about [Newcastle's] interest from the press, like you.

"I have no idea what can be said or done at this time. At one point, the president said that if a good offer is made for me this winter, he would look at it.

"I do not know if he received an offer or not and I'm not at all thinking about it.

"For the moment, it is not in my head. I have goals with Olympique Lyonnais for the end of the season, in the short term. I focus on it.

"The World Cup is one of my goals. It is in a small corner of my mind. Is it better for me to stay in Lyon? For the moment, yes. There are still many goals for me with Lyon."