My thoughts when I read the resignation piece, and what prompted me to post the "[been?]" comment, were that he'd had a run in with the Yanks.
"Steve, we note that you're appearing on a reality TV show. You must have been negotiating this while the club were in free fall down the league, headed...
He's [been?] stood down! Really couldn't make this up...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2017/steve-parish-dragons-den
Nice pic of Pardew on the screen behind him too.