Alan Pardew says he wanted to send a message in stripping Jonny Evans of his captaincy

West Bromwich Albion manager Alan Pardew said he wanted to make a statement by stripping Jonny Evans of the club captaincy.

Evans was one of four West Brom players, along with Gareth Barry, Jake Livermore and Boaz Myhill, who are alleged to have stolen a taxi during the Baggies training camp in Barcelona earlier this week. Evans was stripped of the captaincy against Southampton for their fifth round FA Cup tie on Saturday with West Brom losing 2-1 at home. The club sit at the bottom of the Premier League table, seven points from safety, but Pardew insisted that it was important to send a message to the players with the West Brom boss installing Evans' compatriot Gareth McAuley as captain for the Saints match.

“There was a problem in terms of selection because of the incident to go with my strongest team,” said Pardew after the match.

“I decided to do that. I felt I needed to make a little bit of a statement about the events. I was far from happy over them and made Gareth [McAuley] captain today.

Pardew said he would assess the situation going forward but would not rule out the possibility of extending the punishment beyond this weekend.