Alan Keeps Lookout

Australian trialists Jade North and Wayne Srhoj will be monitored in the coming weeks as Alan Pardew decides whether to sign them permanently or not.

Of the Perth Glory pair, who have returned home since spending just under a week at the club, Alan says:

"They are both very good players.

"We feel that we don't know what division we are going to be in, which is obviously tricky for us at the moment - so we are scouting for two different scenarios.

"They fall into one of those scenarios, they are going to an international tournament now, and we will keep an eye on them in that."

The search for new players with a view to next season is well advanced, and Alan adds: "I feel the scouting network has gone forward and I feel Roger Cross has done a terrific job in organising that with Paul Haversham.

"There is not much that we are not covering, but finances are tight on the European market. "We are trying to get around that in other ways and we are certainly monitoring plenty of players at the moment."