Alan Pardew admits he fears the sack at Newcastle United.

The Daily Mail says anti-Pardew banners - 'No more excuses. No more lies. Pardew out' and 'Pardew is a muppet' - were unfurled during defeat at Stoke City.

Both publicly and privately Newcastle staff blame such an uprising on regional newspapers - banned from all club access in October - who during the week questioned whether it was time for fans to turn on the manager.

That, of course, they duly did, and Pardew said: "I don't feel safe.

"I never feel safe as a Premier League manager. We live five to six Premier League games as we go, in terms of the pressure building from the media.

"I actually don't think the media in the north-east helped us this week. I think they whipped it up, for whatever reason. I know one or two of them are banned from the stadium and they probably used that as a bit of an agenda, which is a shame for us because we want them to support us."