London: Andy Carroll and Alan Pardew exchanged Christmas Day pledges that neither man seems likely to break lightly. During a December 25 meeting at Newcastle United's snowbound training ground the England striker told his new manager that he wants to stay at St James' Park for the forseeable future. In return Pardew promised to do everything in his powers to keep Carroll on Tyneside.
"I spoke to Andy on Christmas Day," said Chris Hughton's successor, well aware Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea and Manchester City are among a cluster of leading Premier League lights itching to recruit his prize asset. "I asked him what he wanted to do; if he wanted to stay."
The answer was more than merely affirmative; it left Pardew with the impression that the Gateshead-born striker's devotion to the club he grew up supporting could equal Matthew LeTissier's famous love for Southampton. No one knows whether Carroll will, like LeTissier, prove a one-team man but, for the moment at least, the thought of living anywhere but northeast England distresses him and his manager's mind is duly at rest. Any attempts by Mike Ashley, Newcastle's owner, to cash in on a striker who turns 22 next week will be resisted. Pardew said: "On Christmas Day I said to Andy, ‘I do not want to talk for you; we are talking together. If you remain here it is great news for us. But it is important that you want to stay.'
"Wanting to stay was the case that Andy put to me and it is great news because we will make sure he does. That is why I am so confident there will be no problem with Andy in January or, hopefully, next summer, the following January and the summer after that. He is handling all the speculation very well but the most important thing is that Andy wants to play for Newcastle United."
