Newcastle United boss Alan Pardew has urged fans to get behind owner Mike Ashley after their 2-2 thriller with Tottenham.

The Toon Army left St James' Park in celebratory mood after an enthralling contest, and Pardew urged Ashley's doubters to cut him some slack.

He said: "I am hoping the owner is starting to get a little bit more respect.

"I don't think we are ever going to win everybody over for Mike and Derek and maybe even myself, but at least you can logically look at it and say we are in a much better position than most Premier League clubs in terms of our financial position.

"We have an owner who doesn't want to go away. He wants to invest in the team, but he wants to do it in the right manner.

"We are working really hard, my scouting team and my staff, to try to bring in the best players we can on the finances we have.

"[Chief scout] Graham Carr, myself, [assistant manager] John Carver, we have assembled what we think is a team that is better than last year's.

"That's all we are at the minute, and let's hope we can improve from there."