Pardew firming up his summer transfer plans.

Alan Pardew has again reiterated that Newcastle are actively seeking to recruit players over the summer months, and claims that contact has already been made with clubs over the availability of players.

I'm sure Pardew is just as keen as we are to see the team improved. After all, an improved team that is getting results will improve his reputation in the football world. This is part of the reason why I believe we will see the squad strengthened over the summer. Another part of the reason is Mr. Ben (Graham Carr) who has been popping up all over the world scouting players. I doubt the club would go to that expense for no good reason.

Anyway, time will tell on that. It's very much a waiting game for NUFC fans at the moment. Cautious is perhaps the most accurate word to use as we await to see signs of activity of incoming players at St James' Park. At the moment though all we can go on is what we are told, which brings me nicely on to what Pardew has been saying today.

"We've made contact with a few clubs about their players, I think that's important," Pardew said. "There's a lot to be done but the process has started."

"Our chief scout Graham Carr and his team have been very much on the ball and understand exactly where the European market is and the targets we have."

"I haven't put a figure on how many players I want because it depends on the renegotiations of players we have," he continued. "Joey Barton, Enrique and Kevin Nolan all need contract deals sorted out - and there are others I won't mention that we still need to secure."

The identity of the players we've enquired about will no doubt remain secret, but at the moment, and based on rumour alone, Kevin Gameiro and Cheikh M'Bengue are said to be two of the players that we've asked about. We'll have to wait and see who the rest.

I'm cautiously optimistic about the summer to be honest. I'm not expecting Hollywood signings, but I am expecting the squad to be strengthened as a whole. Hopefully the bulk of the cash will get spent on our attack as, let's face it, we need to beef up our goalscoring options.

Hopefully we can start to see all of these words put into action.