Newcastle United No2 John Carver admits he was unhappy with Alan Pardew's appointment last season.

Carver was no different from the vast majority of Toon fans when he heard Mike Ashley had replaced the universally-liked Chris Hughton with a man who had never managed north of London.

"I couldn't believe it," the ­Geordie, who was working with Gary Speed at Sheffield United at the time, told the Daily Star.

"For a start, I was angry that Chris had been sacked just a few weeks after the 5-1 win over Sunderland.

"When I heard Alan was taking over, I thought it was a strange decision. Newcastle are a club that have ­traditionally had big-name managers and I couldn't understand why the club thought he was the right man.

"There was no obvious connection and he didn't seem to tick too many of the boxes others had. Mind you, even then there was a part of me which ­admired him for taking it.

"OK, you don't turn down a job like Newcastle if it's offered to you. On the other hand, it showed strength of ­character because he knew he was not a popular choice and had to win over a lot of people, not to mention the ­players."

Within 48 hours of Pardew's appointment, Carver was starting to reassess his initial opinion.

"Promoting Steve Stone to first-team coach was a shrewd move," he said.

"Steve's a Gateshead lad and though he never played for the club, he's black and white daft and was someone at the coal face who had real knowledge about what Newcastle United is all about.

"He's a good coach, too, but his ­promotion was firm evidence that Alan had this job sussed."