Newcastle’s trip to Middle East is no jolly

Carver and his squad will head to Dubai for warm-weather training on Sunday.

The training camp was arranged before Alan Pardew’s departure – and the club’s FA Cup exit – earlier this month.

Previous mid-season trips, including last years’s visit to Abu Dhabi, have attracted criticism.

But caretaker head coach Carver is adamant that the jaunt will give him the chance to do work on the training field which has proved near-impossible during the recent gales on Tyneside.

There will also be rules in place for the team, who face third-place Southampton in the Premier League at St James’s Park tomorrow.

“People straightaway put one and one together and say it’s a jolly-up,” said Carver.

“Let me tell you there’s no jolly-up. There are curfews. I’m going to treat them with respect, but if anyone oversteps the curfews, for example, it’s a two-week fine.”

Asked if the trip would have gone ahead had club had an FA Cup tie next weekend, Carver added: “Absolutely, we still would have done it. It’s just like a normal week.

“We’ll have a team meal on the Wednesday night where we’re all together. They can have a couple of glasses of wine.

“But then there back on the bus and back to the hotel.”

Carver oversaw an indoor training session yesterday ahead of the Southampton game because of the windy conditions at the club’s Benton training ground.

“It was arranged when Alan was manager,” said Carver, who turned 50 today.

“We’ve done it the last three or four years.

“We’ve had a mid-season break because we’ve got Hurricane Charlie here.

“It’s very difficult to do some good quality stuff.

“We’ve had to go in the gym, because it’s unbearable out there, to get some proper work done.

“We’re going on Sunday evening. Monday will be a recovery session plus a session for the guys who don’t play. Tuesday will be a full session.

“In the morning, there’ll be a chance to do some good tactical work and a gym session in the afternoon.

“Wednesday they’ll be off. They’ll have a free day, and some will play golf, which is like a normal week.

“Then we come back on the Thursday.

“So we’ll be back Thursday. We’ll train Saturday, Sunday and then a full week into the Hull game.”