Former Charlton boss Alan Pardew and former goalkeeping coach, Andy Woodman, have signed new eight year contracts at Newcastle.

Toon owner, Mike Ashley, has secured all his coaching staff on long term contracts to ensure continuity at the club.

Pardew was a surprise choice to replace Chris Hughton at St James’ Park in December 2010, after being dismissed by Southampton at the start of the 2010/11 season. Pardew was initially given a contract until the summer of 2016.

Former skipper, Mark Kinsella, has been appointed assistant to manager Joe Dunne at Colchester. The Essex side parted company with John Ward earlier in the week. Kinsella began his career at Colchester and has been plying his trade at non-league level since his departure from The Valley.

The long term injury to Yann Kermorgant has left Chris Powell short of experienced options up front. With three games in a week coming up and Ricardo Fuller not yet up to full match fitness, Powell is expected to bring in a striker ahead of the Blackburn game. Powell had this to say about the situation at his weekly press conference on Thursday afternoon:

“We were able to replace Yann (at Ipswich) with a player of good quality in Ricardo to have his first start but of course it is the diagnosis. If he is going to be out for a long time it is an area I feel I will have to bolster.

“You can never ever not have enough strikers so if I can do that then I think I will have to.

“I want Ricci and Bradley Wright-Phillips to be healthy but of course we’ve got three games in a week and that does take its toll, especially with Ricci just now getting into the groove.

“You don’t want to set him back so I’d like to have options there. Of course I’ve got young Jordan Cook and Michael Smith, Danny Haynes is just coming back but he is not really 100%, so it is an area without a doubt I’m looking at.”

Kermorgant is out until January, so Powell will have been making enquiries to find cover for his front line and he is likely to have a new face available to face Blackburn.

The need for a striker may mean that the expected arrival of Fulham left-back, Matthew Briggs, may be put on hold for the time being. Many were surprised that Powell did not bring in Cedric Evina to replace Rhoys Wiggins – another who faces a lengthy spell on the sidelines. The manager has switched Chris Solly to the left and brought in Lawrie Wilson on the right to plug the gap. He explained his reasoning:

“I have spoken to him [Evina] about it and he understood, it was a tough period for us. We had lost three games and to put a young player in who hasn’t played, sometimes you have to look at whether he would be affected by it or not.

“Sometimes they go in and play stress free but other times they can get affected by everything that is going. So I needed an experienced side against Ipswich because we needed a response and I got that.

“He’s been first class, he was our best player at Cardiff on Tuesday so it shows his professionalism.

“Of course you want Ced to have a chance but I’ve got decisions to make with regards to who comes in.

“So it is now up to me to balance it all up. Do I carry on with the same team or make one or two alterations?

“Ceddy is ready. He has been on the bench and I have got every faith in him if he does get a shirt and a starting berth,” said Powell.

It does not really explain why Evina did not play at Derby or why the Addicks allegedly wanted to bring Briggs in on a month’s loan. Briggs is the same age as Evina but has played less league games than the former Arsenal youngster.

Powell is unlikely to want to field an unbalanced defence for any length of time so Evina may be given an opportunity against Blackburn or Watford.

Powell also confirmed that former Nottingam Forest, Norwich and Coventry midfielder, Sammy Clingan, has been training with the Addicks this week. Clingan is a free agent after being released by Coventry in the summer and Powell has taken the opportunity to look at the player.

Again, the need to bring a striker in may be detrimental to Clingan’s chances of getting a contract at The Valley.