United front for Carroll-less Newcastle

Alan Pardew will look to Shola Ameobi and Leon Best to lead the line when Newcastle United visit Fulham to begin life without Andy Carroll.

Home-grown star striker Carroll left Newcastle for Liverpool in a club-record 35 million-pound transfer on Monday.

His deadline-day departure left manager Pardew unable to recruit a replacement before the January transfer window closed.

Newcastle must now turn to Ameobi and Best, as well as youngster Nile Ranger and bit-part player Peter Lovenkrands, to fill the void left by Carroll’s departure.

The trip to English Premier League rivals Fulham is just the first instalment of life without the key centre-forward, and Pardew has the entire second half of the season to negotiate before he is able to reinvest the proceeds from the sale.

“The one thing I said to (owner) Mike (Ashley) yesterday was, ‘Look, if this boy is going to go, this money has to be reinvested in the team, all of it’, and he has assured me of that,” Pardew said.

“For the Newcastle fans, that is the most important message I can give today, that all that money will be used.”

“Could it have been used yesterday? Late last night, we made a couple of bids, but we were getting extortionate figures thrown at us. It was ridiculous.”

While Newcastle fans have been dismayed to lose their one of their latest heroes, Pardew believes they can take some comfort from the sizeable fee Liverpool were forced to part with to acquire Carroll’s services at such short notice.

“I think the extraordinary figure we’ve got for a 22-year-old who has played six months in the Premier League is a hell of a figure,” he said.

“The fact that it’s so huge, it’s because of the timing of it.”

Nevertheless, Carroll’s departure leaves Newcastle’s stretched squad even smaller ahead of their trip to Craven Cottage.

With midfielder Cheik Tiote due to serve the final game of his three-match ban, Pardew may be tempted to give a start Stephen Ireland following his loan switch from Aston Villa.

Newcastle have a number of absentees in key positions, with defender Steven Taylor still on the sidelines and midfielders Alan Smith, Hatem Ben Arfa and Dan Gosling all suffering from long-term injuries.