Pardew vows to fight on as Newcastle boss
Alan Pardew has vowed to fight to keep his job as Newcastle United manager amid calls from supporters for him to be sacked.
Newcastle have lost six straight Premier League matches, with Pardew bearing the brunt of criticism from the frustrated St James' Park faithful.
Pardew's future had come under scrutiny earlier in the season when he was hit with a seven-match ban for headbutting Hull City's David Meyler.
That poor run of form has seen pressure build further on the 52-year-old, but the former West Ham boss insists he will not walk away.
When asked in a press conference before Newcastle's game against Cardiff City on Saturday if he thinks he will keep his job, Pardew said: "Yes, I do. The personality you need to be a manager is you need to be very strong-willed.
"You have to show a resolve to your wife and your daughter that you are strong enough to deal with it, let alone fans and players. Whatever manager you are you are going to have some bad times.
"If you're going to walk away, then in my view you do not have the make-up to be a manager or a leader of men. If you're in the middle of a field, surrounded by armies, left right and centre, you can't just say I've had enough now, sorry.
"You start your career and you realise the difficulty of managing a football team, of running a coaching session with professional footballers, but then you get a job and you look at the other jobs in the country and I consider this to be one of the biggest jobs.
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"To get the opportunity to be this manager is not something I'm going to give up. I will fight for it with all I can. Newcastle fans have seen me in this position before.
"It might be a little bit stronger this time the feeling for me to go, but it was the same last year and I didn't walk away.
"If I take some criticism and ridicule, whatever comes my way, I have to show the players that I'm strong enough to cope with that. They ultimately have to cope with the pressure on the pitch.
"My love for the job gives me the strength to come through this."