CHRIS Hughton has urged Andy Carroll to “learn the lessons” of yesterday’s conviction for common assault, and reminded the Newcastle striker of his responsibilities to those who have supported him in recent weeks.

Carroll admitted assaulting Crook Town player Michael Cook in a Newcastle nightclub when he appeared at Newcastle Crown Court yesterday, and was fined £1,000 and ordered to pay £2,500 in compensation.

The trial brings an end to ten months of uncertainty following the incident at Blu Bambu last December, and Hughton is hoping to draw a line under an affair that has once again dragged Newcastle’s name into the headlines for all the wrong reasons.

However, the Magpies manager has urged his leading centre-forward to reflect on recent events and guard against repeating his previous mistakes.

“It’s Andy’s responsibility now,” said Hughton, who has been steadfast in his support of the England Under-21 international.

“What is important is that it’s over and done with and it represents an opportunity for us all (to move on).

“It’s not all about Andy – it affects all us. It’s something that everybody has been talking about for a while, and it allows us and him to put it behind him, to concentrate on doing the things he does best and learn the lessons from what’s happened.

“I’m quite sure that he will.”

Despite enduring a difficult week, Carroll was named in the side that played at West Ham on Saturday and justified his manager’s faith with a match-winning header.

He is unlikely to start against Arsenal tomorrow, with Hughton set to stick with his policy of fielding a muchchanged side in the Carling Cup.

But with Carroll all but certain to be involved in Sunday’s Tyne-Wear derby with Sunderland, his manager has reminded him of the need to keep repaying those who have stood by him in the last few months.

“He has to learn lessons,”

said Hughton. “He’s a young man, but he has to realise he has a responsibility – first and foremost to himself, but also to a lot of other people.

“He is a player that’s very much in the limelight and we hope he continues to be in the limelight, but for what he does on the football pitch.

“Anything outside of that, of course, has an impact. He’s the one that is in that position, and he’s the one that’s got to learn from it.”

While other managers might have rested Carroll last weekend, Hughton insists there was never any question of him leaving the striker out of the Newcastle side at Upton Park.

He was heavily involved in the negotiations that led to Carroll signing a new fiveyear contract recently, and claims that as well as admiring the 21-year-old as a player, he also values him as a person.

“Andy has had a lot of support from the people around him,” said Hughton. “And the reason he’s had that is because he’s a player and an individual who is very much liked around here.

“He’s a player that has made mistakes, and he’ll hold his hand up to that and has an opportunity now to put all that behind him. I absolutely see something in him that’s worth investing all the time and effort in him.”

Yet while Hughton has held a series of discussions with Carroll in the last two or three weeks, he will not be treating the striker any differently to the rest of the squad in the future.

“Have we had conversations?

Of course we have, because he’s a member of the playing staff that I have here,”

he said. “Of course we’ve talked, but I will treat Andy no differently to anybody else, to any other player.”

While Carroll will not be involved tomorrow, the likes of Peter Lovenkrands, Alan Smith, Haris Vuckic and Ryan Taylor will all come into the side that won at West Ham.

The game comes too quickly for Steven Taylor, but having missed the opening twoand- a-half months of the season after dislocating his shoulder in a pre-season game at Carlisle, the centre-half finally returned to full training yesterday.

“Steven has had his first day of training with the team and we’ll assess how his week goes,” said Taylor. “It might just be too early for the weekend, but certainly if he comes through this week it will be very shortly after that.”