On a day when Alan Pardew acknowledged that managing Newcastle United was "not an easy job" the midfielder Cheik Tioté emphasised the point by appearing in Newcastle Crown Court charged with using a fake driving licence.

Speaking through a French interpreter, the Ivorian midfield enforcer pleaded not guilty to three charges on Thursday, claiming the licence was genuine before also denying both fraud in relation to its use and making a false statement to obtain car insurance. Tioté, who was granted unconditional bail, was told the case will go to trial next month with his likely absence from training representing just another headache for his manager.

"You don't take it in your stride. I'm not saying it's an easy job, Newcastle manager," said Pardew, speaking for the first time after a summer transfer window which concluded with the club having made a solitary loan signing, Loïc Rémy, the France striker borrowed from QPR.

"We haven't got the finances of a big team and, therefore, it makes it difficult and a lot of the time people cling to bad news when there is a lot of good news," he said. "It's not easy."

Many Newcastle supporters were angered at the failure of Joe Kinnear, the director of football appointed so controversially by Newcastle's owner, Mike Ashley, to make an impact on the transfer market but Pardew seemed reasonably sanguine.

"It's important sometimes to understand that we have a very good team," said Newcastle's manager. "We invested £30m in the last window, we have brought Rémy in. We have brought a lot of young players here who I think will, hopefully, blossom. The likes of Sammy Ameobi and Paul Dummett, part of my management job is to develop them.

"Having said that, our fans wanted a marquee signing probably and that's what we were looking at, somebody that would really threaten the first team. But we couldn't get it over the line in terms of what we wanted and unfortunately that's the position we are in. But having said all of that, I still think we have got a very, very strong side."

Pardew is concerned that the negative response to the lack of summer imports may impact on his team's performances. "I hope it doesn't affect us," he said. "The fans' reaction has been the kind of reaction we have here, which is extreme. We have extreme reactions to our football club. It's so personal here. But when the fans see how we play over the next eight games – providing we keep everybody fit – I think they will feel a lot better than they did on transfer deadline day."

Rémy, recovered from a calf strain, is expected to start at Aston Villa on Saturday. "With all respect to the players we have here already we lacked an offensive striker to really get the other team on the back foot," said Pardew, who must decide whether to start the recently unsettled Yohan Cabaye at Villa Park. "We now have that with Rémy."