Fair play to Alan Pardew for sticking to his guns following the £35million sale of star striker Andy Carroll to Liverpool.

At the time he mused: “The one thing I said to [the chairman] yesterday was, ‘Look, if this boy is going to go, this money has to be reinvested in the team. All of it’.”

And Pardew made good on that promise this week with the signing of 34-year-old former Swansea striker Shefki Kuqi on a free transfer.