ALAN Pardew is convinced Mike Ashley will make good his promise to reinvest the £35m Newcastle United earned by selling Andy Carroll, and says he has the air miles to prove it.

Spending the money wisely will be less easy, but Pardew hopes to add pace to his squad, and another “fantasy player” in the mould of Hatem Ben Arfa.

In January owner Ashley promised – through Pardew – the full fee Liverpool paid would go towards squad strengthening, albeit in wages as well as transfer fees.

Mindful of previous broken promises and – as the Magpies regime admitted at Kevin Keegan’s tribunal – outright lies, some remain unconvinced. Pardew is taking his boss at his word, however.

“I’m as sure as I can be that we will (spend the Carroll money),” he said on a Radio Newcastle phone-in last night.

“We’re in plans and negotiations with a couple of players out of contract in the summer.

“I understand the frustration with what’s gone in the past. If I was a fan here would I be jumping up and down about Mike Ashley?

“Probably not. But he doesn’t want to put his investment into this club to come here and lose games and be abused.

“I know Mike Ashley this well – there’s no point him paying for me and my staff to fly around Europe if he had no interest in buying players. Some of the expense is phenomenal. I genuinely feel he wants to say, ‘I got it right here’. Hopefully he’s going to prove that.”

Pardew also alluded to the type of players he would like, expressing his frustration that France playmaker Hatem Ben Arfa is yet to play for him, after breaking his leg in September. “It’s something I would look for in the summer, that we increase the pace of the team,” Pardew said.

“The teams I built at Reading and West Ham were around high energy and speed and there were times on the touchline I wanted a bit more of that.