Alan Pardew has insisted he will not shy away from the
tough decisions as he attempts to bring tangible success to Newcastle.
The 53-year-old manager ended last season firmly in the
firing line when he was booed by his own fans at St James'
Park with the campaign drawing to a disappointing
conclusion.
It was he who bore the brunt of the criticism after Yohan
Cabaye's January exit for Paris St Germain prompted an
alarming slump in form, and his cause was not helped by
his own disciplinary problems after he head-butted Hull
midfielder David Meyler.
A summer spending spree, which has seen owner Mike
Ashley sanction the acquisition of nine new arrivals to date,
has helped to dilute some of the ire on Tyneside, but
Pardew will return to the dug-out for the visit of champions
Manchester City on Sunday with bridges still to be built.
However, asked if he feels he has been given a second
chance by supporters, he said: "I've been here long enough
not to have to play politics with the fans.
"I think they know I'm an honest person, I think they know
that I work hard, because I do, to try to achieve success at
this club.
"I'm going to stay and bring that honesty onto the pitch. I
have to make tough decisions at this club. I'll make the
ones I think are right to take this club as close as we can to
winning something or to get us as close as we can to the
Champions League or even into the Champions League at
some stage.
"I need to grow the team and build it as I go. At the back
end of last season, I felt the team was nowhere near that.
"We had to improve it and we have. Now I've got to make
sure that's replicated in results."
Pardew will be without midfield enforcer Cheick Tiote and
summer signing Siem De Jong through injury, but with
Daryl Janmaat, Jack Colback, Remy Cabella, Emmanuel
Riviere, Facundo Ferreyra and Ayoze Perez also on board,
he believes he has a strong hand.
He said: "I've nothing to moan about now in terms of
what's happened this summer. We have got a strong
squad, perhaps the biggest and best I've ever had in terms
of options, so we are in a great position."
Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero (groin) has not been
ruled of Sunday's Barclays Premier League opener at
Newcastle but new signing Eliaquim Mangala will not
feature.
City boss Manuel Pellegrini has warned Newcastle that the
champions intend to hit the ground running this season.
In both their Barclays Premier League title successes of
2012 and 2014 City needed to wait until the final day of the
campaign to secure the crown.
Last year their away form in the early part of the season
proved problematic as they lost four of their first six games
on the road.
Pellegrini put that down to the players' lack of familiarity
with his attacking philosophy but he is confident of
avoiding a repeat as the title defence begins at St James'
Park on Sunday.
The Chilean said: "We must improve the first part of the
season last year - it was very bad, especially playing away.
I hope it will not be so bad.
"We had so many good things last year but that maybe is
one of them we will not repeat.
"We were starting the season with a new style of playing.
Maybe people didn't believe we could continue playing that
same way but one of the most important things when we
won the title was that we continued playing that way.
"This year we know how to do it and we have new players
that must understand the way we want to play."

at Newcastle United
Jan 12, 2014 Newcastle 0-2 Man City (Premier League)
Oct 30, 2013 Newcastle 0-2 Man City (Capital One Cup)
Dec 15, 2012 Newcastle 1-3 Man City (Premier League)
at Manchester City
Aug 19, 2013 Man City 4-0 Newcastle (Premier League)
Mar 30, 2013 Man City 4-0 Newcastle (Premier League)
Nov 19, 2011 Man City 3-1 Newcastle (Premier League)

I beg why our matches no dey enter front page which kind ojoro be this ehn

A whole champion of england. Even if our fans no plenty dem suppose move to front page

I was surprised not to see it on front page too