Pardew rubbishes bonus rumours following Dutch league cancellation

ADO Den Haag manager Alan Pardew has said he does not want to collect any bonus money from the club for avoiding relegation after the Dutch season was cancelled.

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Following the announcement on Tuesday that the ban on public gatherings in the Netherlands would be extended, the Dutch Football Association announced the league would be cancelled with no winner as well as no promotion or relegation.

The former Premier League manager, who spent time with Newcastle United, Crystal Palace and West Bromwich Albion, said any talk of him collecting a bonus for avoiding relegation was "rubbish."

"Even if I would formally be entitled to a sum of money, I would never want to receive it. In these tough times I would give my bonus back to the club. I'm sure they have a better destination for it," he said in a statement on the club's website.

Pardew was appointed in December by ADO to help the club avoid relegation. He led the team to one win and three draws in eight games which wasn't enough to drag the club out of danger. 

With eight games remaining when the league was cancelled, the club were seven points below safety. 

"Although we had the belief that our mission to stay up could be accomplished, it was obvious that we were in a bad situation and can never know if we would have made it. But because we could never be sure if the season would have ended good or bad, another outcome for ADO Den Haag would not have been fair to me," he added.

"We count our blessings and understand the frustrations at SC Cambuur and De Graafschap -- the teams who did not get promoted."