Pardew ready for pre-season

Pardew preparing for pre-season Alan Pardew has said today that he can't wait to get back in action once more and is already ready for pre-season.

The Manager of the Year has taken time out over the summer to enjoy some time with his family, and why not after such a successful season last time out and with the possibility of another big one this time round?

Personally I can't wait for the start of pre-season either. It's pretty dire on the news front to be truthful so once everyone gets back to work we might start seeing things moving along a bit, and there is still a lot that needs sorting this summer!

We have the whole saga with Demba Ba to get sorted one way or the other, our right-back conundrum with strong interest in Mathieu Debuchy being rumoured, a bid for a Dutch international midfielder that may or may not be revisited, plus now a firm interest in FC Twente striker Luuk de Jong. There is also the small issue of trying to keep our key players together ready for an assault on Europe.

Things are bubbling away underneath the surface and all it takes is one thing to happen to start a domino effect so that the others start to fall into place. Yes it's quiet right now, which is less than handy for a blog writer I'm sure you'll understand, but I very much doubt that will be the case come the end of the summer.

We need this squad strengthened, especially when you look at the numbers of players who are leaving us over the close season. Danny Guthrie is off and it looks like Leon Best may follow along with a few other inconsequential players like Alan Smith and perhaps Nile Ranger and Fraser Forster - not first choice by any stretch of the imagination but still a reduction in numbers that will, hopefully, be sorted by the time the big kick-off comes around.

So Alan Pardew isn't the only one looking forward to pre-season by any stretch of the imagination. So are we!!!