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Pardew unfazed by speculation

Image: Alan Pardew: Newcastle manager happy to fend off speculation

Newcastle United boss Alan Pardew insists he is unfazed by his star players being linked with moves away from the club.

Newcastle boss not bothered by transfer links for key men

Newcastle United boss Alan Pardew insists he is unfazed by his star players being linked with moves away from the club. The likes of Demba Ba, Cheick Tiote, Yohan Cabaye and Tim Krul are constantly being tipped for possible moves away from Tyneside, despite the fact they are all on long-term deals. But Pardew says he is not bothered by the speculation as he claims that you have to accept that as being part of football. "Speculation is part of the game and I have no problem with that - but all of our best players are on long-term contracts here," said Pardew. "Anyone who looks at this football club will know we are difficult sellers. Someone is going to have to pay a lot of money to take one of our players away - especially considering where we are right now and are having success. "We have some really, really good players here. "My focus is to ensure that they are focused. If we can get one win and something from the other two, or get a couple of wins, then we are really well set for the last six. "If we do it, it's not just a great reward for the players but it will help attract players. "I said last week, we must now focus on that, change our goals to focus on Europe."

Ambition

Pardew is delighted with Newcastle's current recruitment policy, and says they will maintain the work they have been doing. "Last summer was a rebuild job. We did not make the mistake of setting our ambitions or goals too high," he said. "I think players look at you and, if they raise an eyebrow, you might be lying to them for the rest of the season. "They do not want to play for a manager or a club like that. So we were very realistic in our talks about our aims. "We said we were going to attack the top 10 and hopefully get a top-half finish. "As it turns out, with nine games to go we have 47 points, two more than the whole of last year. "That would have given us a top-10 finish last year and we at that mark already. "So the players have stepped up to the plate and now it is a question of where are we going to finish with nine games to go."

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