JOHN CARVER will name Jonas Gutierrez on the Newcastle United substitutes’ bench for tomorrow’s home game with Aston Villa – and the Magpies manager insists he alone will determine the extent of the winger’s involvement in the final 12 games of the season.

Gutierrez’s last senior appearance for Newcastle came in October 2013, but having played a number of games for the development side since returning from his successful battle against testicular cancer last December, the 31-year-old will make an emotional return to the first-team fold this weekend.

Last week, Carver was claiming that Gutierrez was not ready for the demands of the Premier League, a comment that prompted the Argentinian to issue a tweet in which he spelled out his fitness and claimed his potential involvement in the senior ranks was “down to the board”.

Carver rejects any suggestion of boardroom interference, and having been impressed with Gutierrez’s performances on the training ground this week, insists he will decide whether to throw the winger back into the first-team fray.

“I know all the rumours have been out there about whether it’s Mike (Ashley) or Lee’s (Charnley) decision,” said Newcastle’s interim boss. “Let me put the record straight, I’ve had no conversations with either of them about Jonas, because I’m the one who picks the team.

“I will be the one who decides if he is ready for it, and he is ready to go on the bench now. I had a conversation with Jonas (yesterday) morning. He came in to see me, and we both agreed that the time is right for him. I told him that he’s not ready to start, but he needs to be ready to come off the bench.”

Gutierrez’s comment about the potential for a boardroom decision has been widely interpreted as a reference to the clause in his contract, which is due to expire this summer, which stipulates that he will automatically be entitled to a new deal if he makes a set number of appearances, believed to be seven, before the end of the season.

Given his position on the periphery of the squad, Newcastle’s boardroom team will be extremely reluctant to grant him a new deal, but Carver maintains that he has not received any instructions relating to Gutierrez’s potential availability for the matches that remain.

Last weekend’s humiliating defeat at Manchester City means there is an obvious need for a positive reaction tomorrow, but Carver also insists that Gutierrez’s sudden elevation to the senior ranks is a footballing decision rather than an emotionally-driven attempt to get the St James’ Park support back onside.

“I don’t know why he said what he did,” said Carver. “But we’ve had the conversation now, and I’ve put the record straight. He obviously thinks that they’re (the board) making the decision, but it’s me, it’s my decision.

“It’s totally a football decision. I’ve been asked whether he might get a swansong before the end of the season, but I have never even been thinking about a swansong.

“Why would it be a swansong? I just want to make a football decision, and that is that it’s right to put him on the bench. If I need to put him on the pitch, then I will.”

Nevertheless, given everything he has been through since he last pulled on a Newcastle shirt, Gutierrez will be guaranteed an emotional response when his name is announced prior to kick-off and whenever he leaves the bench to warm up.

The midfielder embarked on a lengthy spell of chemotherapy after discovering he had testicular cancer in the summer of 2013, and even had a testicle removed to help treat the illness.

“To come back and play in the Premier League again would be a magnificent achievement,” said Carver. “He’s had a hard fight.

“When I first saw him (after he came back to Newcastle), I was really concerned, but I suppose that’s natural because he’d come from a serious illness.

“Over the weeks, he has got fitter and stronger. In the last training session, more than any other, I saw the old Jonas Gutierrez. That was really the first time I’d seen that.”

Adopting a more pragmatic viewpoint, Gutierrez’s elevation to the substitutes’ bench also reflects the lack of midfield options currently at Carver’s disposal.

Jack Colback starts a two-match suspension tomorrow after picking up his tenth booking of the season at the Etihad, while Cheick Tiote is not expected to play again this season after undergoing knee surgery in Qatar.

Tiote damaged his knee while on international duty with Ivory Coast at the Africa Cup of Nations, and given the mounting speculation over his future, it remains to be seen whether he has played his final game for the Magpies.

“He had the operation on Sunday,” said Carver. “He’s in Qatar, and I think he’ll stay there for a while. He’s there because the surgeon who did his operation on his thigh when he was at FC Twente is over there.

“He’s going to stay out there for a little bit of recovery time and then come back. Will he be out for the season? I would have thought so, yes.”