Hughton, now manager of Premier League side Norwich City, inherited a small squad at St Andrews, and he understands the difficult decisions Pardew is facing this season as he juggles the competing demands of domestic and European football.
Chris Hughton: “Ours was a little bit different.
“We were a Championship side, and played 62 games last year. I think, for us, it helped us. It allowed me to play some of the squad players. We did OK in it.
“But it’s difficult. If you’re a side which has got ambitions like this club (Newcastle) has of being in that top four, it’s difficult to do well in all competitions.
“I think that they’ll use the squad. I’m sure Alan will use the squad as well as he can to get through those games.
“I would think, most certainly, the priority is to finish as high in the league as possible.
“We got a last-minute winner at Brugge with 6,000 Birmingham supporters. It was a real big occasion.
“There’s a real feelgood factor that comes back to the club, particularly, as I say, if you’ve used some of the fringe or younger players.”