Last Updated: Wed, 07 May 2008 15:45
Alan Pardew has warned his returning Charlton players to prepare for a "tougher regime" when pre-season training gets underway.
Pardew is determined to bury a "tough and, on the whole, disappointing season" when the players return in June in advance of a busy summer preparing for a genuine crack at promotion back to the Premier League.
Pardew will look to bring in some new faces but has already confirmed he will stick to his policy of promoting youth.
"There will be a tougher regime here next season, and it will start as soon as this game finishes," Pardew wrote in his programme notes prior to the last game of the season against Coventry at the weekend.
"We will be coming in for four days at the beginning of June so that when we return for pre-season training we can hit the ground running."
He added: "It will be a tough summer, for the board and myself. In the last parachute payment season, we need to get the balance right of protecting the club without losing ambition, because a successful club cannot be run by fear of failure."