Hatem Ben Arfa once tried to throw a fridge at Alan Pardew in the dressing room after the former Newcastle United manager had a 'right go at him' at half-time.
Ben Arfa certainly had his moments on the pitch under Pardew - who could forget the solo goals against Blackburn and Bolton? - but the pair clashed off the field, too, despite an encouraging start to their relationship. It was Pardew, after all, who urged the club's hierarchy to make Ben Arfa's loan move permanent after watching a replay of the injured Frenchman's dazzling full debut against Everton before he took charge.
Ben Arfa may have been out with a double leg break at the time, but it was easy to see why it was such a no-brainer for Pardew to sign the player from Marseille. Indeed, Papiss Cisse previously told ChronicleLive that Ben Arfa was so outrageously talented that the attacking midfielder could have been 'up there' with Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo if he 'worked hard' and was 'serious'.
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However, issues over Ben Arfa's weight and discipline eventually led to the Frenchman being banished to the reserves in 2014 after he fell out with Pardew for the last time. Ben Arfa went on to describe those few months as the worst period of his career. Pardew, for his part, said that 'you can lose' 'some mavericks' before admitting that managing Ben Arfa had become 'impossible'.
Indeed, even when Ben Arfa was in the team, the relationship between the pair was remarkably fiery at times as Pardew's former assistant, John Carver, revealed.
“He was having a rough game and Alan Pardew had a right go at him,” Carver told the Guardian. "Suddenly Hatem turns to a fridge that would have taken 10 men to pick up. He tried to lift it and throw it at Pards but he couldn’t.
"He storms out of the dressing room into the coaches’ office. Five minutes later, he reappears eating a sandwich ready to play the second half.”
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