ALAN Pardew has warned his Newcastle United players they still have plenty to prove between now and the end of the season, as he has not made any firm decisions on their futures.

Although Pardew will retain the core of this season’s squad, he still has some tough calls to make on players who have offered back-up roles this term.

These include centre-back Sol Campbell, as well as midfielders Danny Guthrie and Alan Smith, while even established members of the first team like Jonás Gutiérrez and Danny Simpson still have to prove they can continue in their current positions.

With new contracts yet to be signed by both Joey Barton and José Enrique, the make-up of United’s squad next season is far from confirmed with nine games to go until the summer break.

“I’m not going to talk about any outgoings at all,” said Pardew (right), when asked whether he had made up his mind about which players could leave the club.

“They are decisions we’ll make at the end of the season – and I think that applies to all the decisions like that. We’ve stopped all contracts talks until then as well.

“All the players have got plenty to play for between now and the end of the season, and whether they will still be here, I think that’s part of it.

“Contracts, going forward – the fact it’s well documented that we’ve got finances to improve the squad, if I was a player here I’d be making sure I was playing very, very well to do my best to stay in the team for next year.”

He added: “You look at this group of players, it’s our first season in the Premier League. You look at the three teams that got promoted. West Brom, Blackpool and ourselves, we’re all out of the bottom three, but not by much.

“Every player is under scrutiny between now and the end of the season at every Premier League club because it’s all so very, very tight between those teams.”

United had quietly begun to think about a surprise European push going into March, but only one point from a possible six from the two home games against Bolton and Everton have put an abrupt end to that.

Instead, they need to ensure that they are not dragged back into any sort of relegation trouble. The Magpies are only five points clear of the drop zone as they prepare to travel to Stoke at the weekend. And Pardew will stress the need to remain on their guard between now and the end of May as he challenged his depleted squad to scramble past their safety target as quickly as possible.

He said: “You can’t afford to take your foot off the pedal in this division because you’re going to get embarrassed.

“Even against Everton, when perhaps the opposition had more quality on the pitch, I thought we gave everything we could to get a result.

“But if you do take your foot off the gas, you’re going to get beaten by everyone in this division. Man United went to Wolves, took their foot off the gas a little bit and got beat.

“So the players can’t afford to do that, and we’re very much aware that we’ve still got a job to do until the very end.”

Another whose future is unresolved is Fraser Forster, and the Hexham-born goalkeeper has hinted he would like it to be elsewhere.

Pardew has promised to assess Forster, Steve Harper and Tim Krul this summer with a view to one leaving, either permanently or on loan.

It looks a straight fight between Krul and Forster, and the latter has little interest in sitting on the bench.

Forster spent last season on loan at Bristol Rovers and Norwich City, and the man who turns 23 tomorrow has impressed in 30 appearances for Celtic this term.

“I just want to be out playing first-team football week in, week out,” Forster said. “I’ll just have to put in good performances and work hard at training and see where it takes me.”