Pardew has 'no axe to grind'

Alan Pardew insists he will never understand why he was sacked by West Ham's new owner Eggert Magnusson.

The Charlton manager will face his old club at The Valley two months after he was kicked out by the Hammers.

Magnusson has since explained the previous management was a "cancer we had to cut off", but Pardew does not want to get involved in a war of words.

He said: "If I were to bump into Mr Magnusson I'd be courteous. That's not to say I agree with his decision.

"I didn't then and I never will but I have no axe to grind with anybody over leaving West Ham and the way it happened. That was his decision and he'll have to live with that, whether it was right or wrong. I have not let it eat me up.

"I was disappointed as I felt I could have turned the situation around. I moved on and now I am determined nothing is going to detract from my focus of winning Saturday's game."

Both Charlton and West Ham are six points behind 17th-placed Wigan in the Premiership table, and a win for either side will give them hope of avoiding relegation.

The Hammers' boss Alan Curbishley will also be facing his former club and he is hoping to see some improvement because his team have not played for two weeks.

Curbishley said: "This has been the best two weeks we have had to work together since I came here. We've had 12 games in seven weeks, and if you take into account preparation days before and rest days after the matches it's been difficult.

"We knew how important this game and the Watford game were going to be and we blew the first one, so we have to make sure we don't blow the second one.

"Everyone going into this game knows how important it is. We've seen Watford and Charlton pick up wins and seen the boost it has given them, and we're the only team who haven't done that.

"We desperately need the lift a win will provide and hopefully it will come."

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