Report by Lindsay McCombie

ADDICKS head coach Les Reed and his assistant Mark Robson have officially put pen-to-paper on their new contracts.

Reed took over the top job in the wake of Iain Dowie's shock departure a month ago and with him being fully focused on matters on the pitch it has taken until now for the deals to be finalised - both have signed until 2009.

Former fans' favourite Mark Kinsella also joined the management team as development coach earlier this week and with his coaching set-up now complete, Reed is looking forward to making his first dip into the transfer market as a Premiership manager this January.

He said: "When you take over in the situation I did, when there's no possibility of loaning or transferring people, your hands are tied to a certain extent.

"But I can now look forward to a bit of flexibility and to making the squad broader and deeper, which is obviously going to be an advantage in this relegation battle.

"We've had to go along with what we have, and that's not to put down the players we've got, but when you've copped a few injuries and your squad's limited then there's not much you can do.

"Whereas if I can bring some fresh faces in in January it will give people a boost anyway.

"It'll tell the players we've got here we're positive about this and we're going to move things forward. And it'll be a big challenge to the players we've got here to earn and keep their places.

"Those are all good things which will happen if we can hit our targets in January."

He added: "I've sat down with the chairman Richard Murray, Andrew Mills the general manager and Peter Varney the chief executive and we've set out targets.

"The great thing about the structure at this club is I can do that and then leave it to them.

"We've got a list of targets, the scouts will be out on the road, we'll be making enquiries and we will hope to improve and strengthen, widen and deepen our squad in January like everybody else.

"We're looking for a number of players but I'm sure most other clubs will be looking at the same players, so we have to see how it pans out because we don't want to just bring players in for the sake of having more bodies around.

"We want the right players in the right positions and I'm sure we'll have some competition, but I'm hoping we'll be able to bring three or four new players in.

"We'll also be able to bring Simon Walton back from Ipswich so there could be four or five new faces around in January."

Top of Reed's target list looks set to be attacking players, both in midfield and up front, although the boss has made clear star man Darren Bent is not for sale.

And the message was also extended to the man who brought Bent to SE7, former Charlton manager Alan Curbishley, who himself signed a new contract this week with West Ham United.

Reed said: "I'm looking all around the team really, but we do need to strengthen our attacking play.

"It's not just up front, though, but also in terms of midfield players or widemen who can score goals.

"The midfield is a key area for us, and we probably have the fewest strikers in the league, out-and-out central strikers, so we have to improve on that as well.

"I expect a number of clubs will show interest in Darren because he's a top proven Premiership goalscorer and we all want those - but I have him.

"It wouldn't surprise me if West Ham, along with others, show an interest but our intention is to keep Darren here and scoring goals for us.

"Alan will know how determined we are to keep him and may decide he'd be better off focusing his attention elsewhere rather than wasting his time coming here."

Reed, who previously worked for the Addicks as first-team coach under Curbishley, added: "Alan's an east London lad like myself, born up the road from West Ham and played there, so I suppose it was inevitable the vacancy would turn up at the right time and it has and I'm delighted for him.

"It's a big challenge for both of us. I hope he does very well, but not quite as well as us."