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Pardew: Not expecting extra cash from As
Newcastle boss Alan Pardew is not expecting a slice of Mike Ashley's £100million windfall to assist him through another summer recruitment drive.
The sportswear magnate this week sold a four per cent stake in his Sports Direct company just weeks after bankrolling Pardew's January spending spree, which netted five senior players.
However, despite reaping a swift return on the club's investment in Frenchmen Mathieu Debuchy, Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa, Massadio Haidara, Moussa Sissoko and Yoan Gouffran, the manager insists the model on which the club has operated since his arrival remains very much in place.
Pardew said with a smile: "No, I don't think any of that will be coming my way.
"The windfall is earned from the success of his companies and what we have to do is get our own success here on and off the pitch, and we are working well towards that to generate our own money.
"That's the brief that we have got and that's what we will have to do."
Andy Carroll's £35million sale to Liverpool in January 2011 gave the Magpies a sizeable kitty and they have invested wisely since to bring the likes of Yohan Cabaye, Papiss Cisse and, for a whirlwind 18 months, Demba Ba to St James' Park.
However, they freely admit they got it wrong last summer when, after finishing in fifth place in the Barclays Premier League, they bought only one senior player, Dutch midfielder Vurnon Anita, and saw the gamble fail when injuries and suspensions exposed a lack of squad depth.
Their January shopping mission went much of the way to addressing that situation and three victories in the last four league games and progression to the last 16 in the Europa League have helped to create a fresh optimism on Tyneside.
But asked if he was now where he wanted to be, Pardew replied: "We have corrected some of the mistakes we made, and no more than that at this stage.
"There is still a long, long way to go in this season for all the teams, still a lot to play for.
"We have the Europa League as a real bonus for us. We have managed to play well in that competition all the way through it, even with all our injuries, so that's something we can look forward to after Swansea."
Saturday's trip to the Liberty Stadium will see Newcastle become the first team to face the Capital One Cup winners, and Pardew admits to a little envy after seeing Michael Laudrup's Swansea men lift their first ever major trophy with a 5-0 demolition of League Two Bradford at Wembley on Sunday.
He said: "Yes, absolutely, fair play to them. We haven't had a trophy here for a long, long while and we are desperate for one.
"Swansea won that trophy - forget about the final, to beat Chelsea over two legs deserved a trophy in itself because that's a tough agenda, so they deserved it, every bit of it, and well played to the manager and the players."
If the Magpies are to repeat their victory at Swansea last season, they will have to do so without goalkeeper Tim Krul, who damaged an ankle in last Thursday night's 1-0 win Europa League win at Metalist Kharkiv, and probably skipper Fabricio Coloccini, who limped out of Sunday's 4-2 league win over Southampton with a back injury.
Pardew said: "Tim's ankle is still a little bit swollen. We think maximum four weeks, five weeks, but we are hoping for less than that."
Coloccini hurt himself clearing his lines with a spectacular overhead kick and while his manager appreciated the effort, he was not so sure about the defender's method.
Pardew said: "I don't think it's advisable for centre-halves to do overhead kicks, I really don't."
Meanwhile, winger Hatem Ben Arfa is unlikely to be involved at Swansea as he continues to work on his match fitness following 11 weeks on the sidelines with a hamstring injury.
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