ALAN PARDEW will head for Liverpool tonight confident Newcastle have made significant progress since he first went into battle with the Anfield outfit.

Pardew stepped into the home dugout at the then St James’ Park for the first time on December 11 last year with the club once again in turmoil in the wake of Chris Hughton’s dismissal.

The fans were in revolt after Hughton, the man who had guided the Magpies back to the Premier League, was dispatched with his side making a fist of life in the top flight and replaced by, in the eyes of the most disgruntled locals at least, a new member of the so-called ‘Cockney Mafia’ in control of the club.

However, the players Pardew had inherited did him proud as they secured a 3-1 victory, and despite a transfer policy which has since seen four of the men who started that day – Andy Carroll, Jose Enrique, Kevin Nolan and Joey Barton – all leave, the curve has been largely upward ever since.

The 50-year-old said: “The biggest progress we have is stability at the football club because the results and the way we have conducted ourselves here at the training ground have suggested that hopefully we can have a period where the manager stays in place and we can build the team.

“We have brought young players to the club – Davide Santon, Haris Vuckic, Hatem Ben Arfa, people like that, young players who we can build on.”