AFP/London

Alan Pardew insists he is ready to come out fighting as he battles to save his job at Newcastle ahead of today’s clash with struggling Cardiff.
The under-fire 52-year-old admits he faces one of the toughest tests of his managerial career in trying to turn around a run of six consecutive defeats that has intensified calls from supporters for his head.
Fed-up fans are planning a mass walkout during this weekend’s final home game of the season against relegation-threatened Cardiff to register their protest at a second-half of the season slump that leaves Newcastle bottom of the Premier League form table in 2014 after their worst sequence of results in the top flight for 27 years.
Despite that, Newcastle remain on course to secure their aim of a top half finish, and Pardew insists he’s up to the challenge of leading the club through their current troubles.
Adding that he has no plans to resign just 18 months after penning a lucrative eight-year contract, he said: “If you’re going to walk away, then my view is that you do not have the make-up to be a manager or a leader of men.
“As a manager, you need to be very strong-willed. You have to show a resolve to your wife and your daughter that you are strong enough to deal with it, let alone to the fans and players.
“I have to be big enough and bold enough to cope with it. I’ll fight for the position I have here at this club, because I’ve always been proud to have this job.
“This has been the toughest run of results I’ve had as a manager and the most important thing is to get a performance that gets the stadium on our side to give us a platform to win on Saturday.”
When asked the point at which a manager’s job becomes untenable, he added: “I don’t think that is a decision for managers. Our job is to lead and manage the team to the best of our ability. I’ve never considered that (quitting).”

SHUNNED BY THE MANAGER  
Pardew will impose a stiff club fine on Hatem Ben Arfa in the wake of an unauthorised interview where the exiled Frenchman spoke out over the way he has been shunned by the manager.
After revealing the 27-year-old is still training with the reserves, Pardew said: “Hatem has made those comments, but I pick the team on merit.
“The only thing I’d say to the fans is that I hope the team comes first. It’s not about me or Hatem, it’s about the club, which is much bigger than any of us as individuals.”
Cardiff manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer believes his side can still avoid relegation against all the odds as they return to the north-east just six days after a 4-0 hammering at relegation rivals Sunderland.
That hefty defeat left Cardiff bottom of the division, two points away from safety with only two games of the season remaining.
Former Manchester United striker Solskjaer, who has won just five of his 19 matches in charge of the Welsh club, including the FA Cup third round victory over Pardew’s side in January, is confident a never-say-die spirit will give Cardiff hope in their battle to remain in the top-flight as he targets maximum points against Newcastle and Chelsea.
“We’ve got two games and we have to win both of them. We won’t give up,” Solskjaer said.
“We have to give our best in the next two games. We have to find a way and a mentality that we can still do this. I believe we can.
“Two wins is what we need. That’s the only way back. Football is a strange game at times, and you don’t give up until it’s over.”