ALAN PARDEW has defended his decision to tell Jonas Gutierrez to look for a new club, insisting the move was motivated purely by “footballing reasons”.

Gutierrez is due to return to training with Newcastle United next month after completing his recovery from testicular cancer, but the midfielder criticised Pardew’s conduct during an interview in his native Argentina earlier this week.

Gutierrez claims Pardew told him he no longer had a future at St James’ Park last December, just 20 days after he had surgery in an attempt to cure his cancer.

The 31-year-old had already completed a loan spell at Norwich City by then, having fallen out of the first-team picture with Newcastle before the start of last season, and Pardew is adamant his decision had nothing to do with Gutierrez’s illness.

“It was a pure football decision, and those are decisions that have to be made,” said the Magpies manager. “We’ve supported him and tried to do what we can when his illness was made known to us, before it was known publicly.

“What he has done is absolutely marvellous, to recover like he has. I believe he’s picking up an award. We’re very proud of what he has done. He needs to rest assured it was purely a football decision.”

Pardew is facing something of an injury crisis ahead of Saturday’s home game with QPR, with a number of senior players unavailable.

Fabricio Coloccini is definitely out with a calf injury, while Steven Taylor’s knee problem is also expected to keep on the sidelines. As a result, Mike Williamson and Paul Dummett are expected to form an untried centre-half pairing.

Cheick Tiote and Rolando Aarons are also out of Saturday’s game, with Mehdi Abeid another major doubt after damaging his ankle while on international duty with Algeria.

“We’ve suffered some injuries,” confirmed Pardew. “(We’ve) managed to repair the squad a bit, but are still missing one or two players.

“There’ll be a bit more expectation on us this weekend than in recent weeks, and therefore a different type of hurdle to overcome. We’ve done really well and the mood in the camp is buoyant. Our young players deserve a lot of credit, as do our senior guys.”