Newcastle United boss Alan Pardew admits he's delighted to reach the Europa League group phase.

Toon saw off Atromitos in their qualifier.

Pards told Absolute Radio: "Well, we enjoyed Athens, we had a lovely plane and a lovely hotel and the sun was out. I was by the poolside there thinking, 'This is alright, I fancy a bit of this'.

"We enjoyed the games, that's the most important thing, and I think you are always going to learn a couple of things on that little trip and we take it to the next six games that we got and they look all good games and they're great trips, they are not too far, we will take the Toon Army, and they're, they're gonna enjoy that and hopefully we will on the pitch too.

"I think teams have taken their best team and played on a Thursday and suffered on a Sunday, we are not going to do that. We have tried all pre season to get our young players up to speed and increase the squad and say "well go on then, you are getting paid by Newcastle, go and earn your money'.

"And you're going to have to earn it in the Europa League and the Capital One Cup and if you're good enough and you do well in those competitions then obviously the Premier League will be coming your way too. So that is nice competition for us in the squad."

Pardew was speaking to Ian Wright of Absolute Radio's Rock 'N' Roll Football. Click here for more.