Alan Pardew Team Quotations

People may have thought we panicked to buy a striker but that is not the case. We've probably paid a little over the odds, considering where he is in his career but for us it just fits perfectly. He can justify the fee and maybe be worth more in the future. It's a statement of intent for us to compete with some of the bigger teams in the league.

Whatever anyone says now, it's been a good season. There are a number of Premiership teams who have got into this position and fallen away - we have to make sure that doesn't happen to us.

At home teams tend to sit back and we probably lack that extra bit of quality at times to break them down. But as I said we are looking to next season and it is something we will have to sort out.

Now isn't the right time to make decisions because I've just seen my team get stuffed. West Ham were thoroughly better than us and we got what we deserved tonight. It was a fair result.

I don't like people who drain my time and energy. If you've seen the Harry Potter films, we use the term 'dementors' - people who can draw the life out of you in terms of your energy. So we eradicate the 'dementors', encourage the positive people, and that spreads around to create the team spirit we have here