By Dan King - Newcastle United Club Reporter

Alan Pardew has spoken of his surprise at being offered an eight-year contract - but has now set his sights on continuing his good work at Newcastle during that period.

On Thursday the Magpies manager and coaching staff John Carver, Steve Stone and Andy Woodman, committed their future to the Club until 2020 - virtually unprecedented deals in the top flight.

That followed on from Chief Scout Graham Carr signing up for the same length of time in the summer but Pardew revealed that it did some as a surprise to him when he was first approached by owner Mike Ashley.

"When it was suggested by Mike, eight years, I was a bit shocked myself," he said.

"To try and foresee what's going to happen in the next eight years is difficult but on the other side of the coin, when I've looked at my career so far this is probably the best chance I've got of winning a trophy and that's really what I want to do.

"I want to win a trophy and I think this Club gives me a great opportunity to do that. We have a great team, great players, great staff and I'm glad that they've got the same reward, which I thought was very important.

"It was no good just making sure that the manager was okay, but that everybody got looked after in terms of that length of time and now we move on and try and secure that first trophy which has been some time coming."

The board have now afforded Pardew the chance to set out a long-term future for the Club by giving him the time and security to plan several years in advance. It's a real vote of confidence by the owner and Managing Director Derek Llambias but the manager insisted that it works both ways.

"On my part it's the same," he said. "The manager has to have a belief that he's going to do what he wants to do at a football club.

"Part of that process was the players that we kept. I said that if we keep this team in place, we'll have a chance of finishing where did last year and could we improve on it? We have and hoepfully we will go forward.

"We've got Graham Carr, who's done a superb job on the road looking for new players and new acquisitions to take us forward.

"But my ambition very much at this time, with the team I've got, is to try and win a trophy. I think that's what our fans want and that's what we're going to try to achieve."