There have been murmurings on Tyneside that certain high-ranking senior stars have been offering their input to the coaching staff. The selection of Danny Guthrie ahead of Wayne Routledge for the recent 5-1 mauling at Bolton was regarded as evidence that player power was influencing proceedings at St James' Park. Hughton, though, insists he remains in complete control, with the advice of his assistant the only outside interference he will allow. He said: "I can tell you categorically 100 per cent that there's only one person here who selects the team and that will be the normal process. "I will select the team. You sometimes confide in your assistants, very much Colin Calderwood when he was here, but certainly not with players. "It's an impossibility. If you go down that road, it's very dangerous." One man set to be drafted back into the starting XI by Hughton for Sunday's trip to West Brom is Joey Barton, who is available again after serving a three-match ban for punching Blackburn's Morten Gamst Pedersen. Newcastle will have no issue with handing the combative midfielder an immediate recall, with the one-cap England international proving to be an influential figure this term. Hughton said: "Joey's been one of our best players this season. "He hasn't spent enough time on the pitch in the last couple of years. Injuries have stopped him playing the amount of football he would have wanted. "Getting him on the pitch as much as we can is important, Joey is a big asset. "We're all aware of what the suspension was for and it's one he has to take on the chin. He's itching to get back. "Joey did something he very much regretted very quickly afterwards, he's taken his punishment, he's apologised and he has to learn from it."
