Alan Pardew's fight for the future

When Alan Pardew failed to rescue Charlton from relegation last season, there were no calls for his head. Indeed, Pardew had manfully tried to keep the team in the top-flight following the failures of his two predecessors Iain Dowie and Les Reed.

The club needed to get back to the stability they enjoyed under Alan Curbishley, who had decided to step down after nine seasons in charge in the summer of 2006.

Former West Ham boss Pardew was seen as the right man to lead Charlton straight back into the Premier League, yet the reality has been somewhat different.

Pardew even threw in the towel on his side's automatic promotion hopes after their 2-1 defeat by Preston at The Valley on Saturday.

Worse still, defeat at Burnley tonight could see them tumble out of the top six with just eight games of the season left to play.

Despite the subsequent departure of several key players - notably England striker Darren Bent, who was sold to Tottenham for £16.5million - Pardew was expected to rebuild and resurrect Charlton in the same manner he achieved under similar circumstances at West Ham.

Pardew acknowledges that Charlton's stuttering campaign is reminiscent of his time in the Championship with West Ham.

He has used 32 players in League matches this season, the highest number since 36 were used in the club's very first campaign in 1921-22.

Pardew is still searching for a striker to fill Bent's shoes. Leroy Lita, signed on loan from Reading last week less than two months after Andy Gray was brought in from Burnley for £1.5m, is the latest to be given a go - he has now spent £13m since taking over in December 2006. And it is not just on the team-sheet where uncertainty reigns, following long-serving chief executive Peter Varney's announcement last week that he will step down at the end of the season for "personal reasons". Hardly a stable foundation for a club that fans fear is starting to wobble.

Captain Matt Holland refuses to give up on finishing in the top two, but admits his team must improve their application to avoid blowing their promotion dream altogether.

He said: "Never say never, but it's going to be very difficult. There's a huge mountain to climb. We have some tough fixtures left and it's going to be difficult.

"We have to make sure we secure our play-off place. It would be a disaster if we missed out altogether because our aim at the start of the season was to get back to the Premier League at the first attempt.

"We have got plenty of ability, but we are a very different team to what we were last season. There have been a lot of changes and we maybe have people who haven't played in this division before.

"Overall, our recent form hasn't been that bad. We've had some good performances and results. We've beaten Stoke and Crystal Palace, drawn with Watford and Bristol City and gone to Sheffield United and won, but Preston was very disappointing. From start to finish we didn't play very well."