Thursday 11 December 2014 18:16, UK
Arsene Wenger deserves a stadium named in his honour rather than the abuse of Arsenal supporters, according to Alan Pardew.
Arsenal take on Pardew's Newcastle in this weekend's Saturday Night Football game with Wenger's position under more scrutiny from his own fans than at any other time since he came in with the club still housed at Highbury.
A banner calling on the manager to stand down was held up at West Brom and Galatasaray recently, while a small minority of supporters were filmed haranguing him at a train station on the way back from last weekend's defeat at Stoke.
Pardew has come through his own fan troubles this season and has history with Wenger, but the Newcastle boss reckons his side should be visiting the 'Arsene Wenger Stadium' rather than the Emirates on Saturday.
He said: "This is a guy that's done an unbelievable job, and in some ways the stadium should be named after him. If he hadn't been as astute in the transfer market as he's been they couldn't have competed in the Champions League with that stadium debt.
"He's done an absolutely marvellous job. He's had a couple of difficult results recently, but Arsene has those as every manager does. He'll get through it.
"His treatment in that train station was was total disrespect, and I'm sure every Arsenal fan was ashamed of that. They may be looking to put that right on Saturday night."
Pardew and Wenger - the Premier League's two longest-serving managers - famously had a shoving match on the touchline when the former was West Ham boss.
"I've had one run-in when there was a last-minute goal," Pardew said. "Other than that he's been very good to me and loaned me Alex Song when I was at Charlton. That was a massive signing for us and almost saved us from relegation.
"There's nothing other than mutual respect, and I've always enjoyed watching his teams."
Watch Arsenal v Newcastle live on Saturday Night Football this weekend. Kick-off is at 5.30pm,
