Parky in, Harbin gone. Benty? I go away for one and a bit days to Akron, Ohio not to be confused with the arse end of the world, which of course would be in London SE25, and all hell breaks lose.

Phil Parkinson, as anticipated joins the club as Assistant Manager, at least until he gets a better offer but I reckon it's a good deal for all parties as Parkinson will be desperate to repair his otherwise immaculate record after being sacked by Hull. Parkinson was a cult-hero at Reading and worked with Pardew for 5 years until he left to take over as manager at Colchester.

And with Mark Robson and Mark Kinsella being renamed as first-team coach and reserve-team coach respectively, this finally ends the much vaulted but flawed 'coaching structure' that Richard Murray put into place when Curbishley departed. Andrew Mills (General Manager - Football) remains, and we will see what kind of work he does in the January window.

Talking of which, the January window has not been good to us in previous seasons with Parker, Murphy and Smertin all leaving us late in the month, although we did get Marcus Bent! What would we ever have done without him?

Now, it appears that we may listen to offers for our best player, Darren Bent. I personally think that Pardew is only being honest in his assertion of the situation and lazy good for nothing journo's are getting over excited. However selling the boy would be bloody daft. As far as I know, no one has ever stayed up by throwing in the towel early and 2nd from bottom and without your best player is not the best way to attract new talent to replace him.

I just hope this is not another Murray ruse, no more porkies please Charlton. If that supposed idiot up the road can keep Andy Johnson, then we can keep Bent and if Boa Morte is worth £5m then how much is Bent truly worth?

As announced on What was the score on Monday, Performance Manager John Harbin has left the club, probably under the trade descriptions act as has overseas scouting co-ordinator Jeff Vetere, who was very close to old boss Curbishley.

The old blokes at The FA have been at it again. After 9 holes and a liquid lunch they decided yesterday that Pards was quite right in getting a bit excited when West Ham scored a late goal against Arsenal earlier in the season, but they also thought that it "frivolous" that Charlton thought Sankofa didn't deserve a red card this week away at Arsenal. Rightly or wrongly, why does Sankofa get the another ban, when it was the club not the player that questioned the decision? After the decision Sankofa, who looked visibly shaken, just walked off the pitch without even talking to old mother Riley. Nope, doesn't make any sense at all but apparentely we're going back to the FA for another go, so watch Osei's ban become 3 games next week!

It's the beauty of the Cup tomorrow. I can't get excited about it I'm afraid, even though it's being carried live on television here although I will miss it as I'm away the weekend.

It will be another 'risk-free' chance for Pardew to look at his players though. I would particularly like to see Rommedahl be given a chance up front with Marcus Bent and I'd play (I keep saying this) El Kak as the holding midfielder with Kish at right back and Fortune and Diawara as the centre-half's. Simon Walton may make his long awaited senior debut but what about giving that Pouso chap a run-out or is the altitude still too low for him in Nottingham?  ¶ 20:32