Alan Pardew has stepped down as CSKA Sofia manager and technical director after a segment of the club’s fans racially abused their own players.

Pardew, who has coached West Ham, Newcastle and Crystal Palace among other Premier League sides, joined CSKA in an advisory role in November 2020. The Briton then took over as coach this April.

Pardew, 60, has now left the club, however, in response to an incident in which CSKA fans threw bananas at several of the team’s Black players.

CSKA lost the Bulgarian cup final to rivals Levski Sofia two weeks ago, and as the team arrived at their home stadium for their following fixture – a league match against Botev Plovdiv – a large number of fans were waiting outside the ground.

According to Sky Sports, four Black players had bananas thrown at them and initially refused to go ahead with the game, before later being persuaded to take part.

Pardew is understood to have been upset by the incident and initiated talks with those in charge of the club shortly thereafter.

In a statement published on the CSKA Sofia website on Wednesday, Pardew said: “The events before and after the match against Botev Plovdiv were unacceptable not only for me, but also for my assistant Alex Dyer and for my players. Our players decided to play out of loyalty towards the club.

“This small group of organised racist fans, who tried to sabotage the game, are not the fans I want to coach the team in front of. That’s definitely not right for CSKA, because such a club deserves a lot more.”

“I would like to express my gratitude towards all true CSKA fans for their support and passion. I also want to thank Grisha and Dani Ganchev [the club’s owners] for their efforts to bring the club forward despite all the challenges and circumstances.

“It’s been a privilege and honour to serve this great club. Unfortunately, my time here has come to an end.”

Prior to his stint with CSKA, Pardew coached Eredivisie side ADO Den Haag.

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