Newcastle manager Alan Pardew heads back to Southampton on Sunday for the first time since being sacked by the club in August 2010.
Pardew was at St Mary's for just over a year and he admits it was "a relief to be sacked" by the south coast club.
He returns there in the Premier League this weekend and says that his relationship with the then chairman of Southampton, Nicola Cortese, had been a difficult one.
Pardew told the Northern Echo: "If I'm honest, I was quite happy about it.
"I thought I'd done a good job but it was proving to be very very difficult to work with the owner.
"I wouldn't have jumped before I was pushed, but it was a difficult period working with Mr Cortese.
"We just didn't see eye to eye. There was no nastiness in there, he just didn't want me as his manager and I think that was obviously coming through to me.
"I had a great relationship with the fans though and our performances were strong bearing in mind we had minus ten points and didn't really have a starting XI when I arrived."
