WHILE Newcastle United are aiming to bring more fans back to St James' Park by introducing a new cut-price season ticket offer, manager Alan Pardew is working behind the scenes on how to deal with mounting injury problems.

Queues gathered inside and outside the club shop yesterday afternoon to take advantage of the boardroom's decision to offer existing season ticket holders the opportunity to buy additional season tickets discounted by 50 per cent.

Homegrown defender Steven Taylor had been expected to turn up to help sell the first few, but in the end had further examinations on the broken nose he sustained in a collision with Mohamed Diame during Saturday's 1-0 win over Wigan Athletic.

Ordinarily Taylor would just sit out tomorrow night's Carling Cup fourth round tie at Blackburn Rovers as a matter of course. However, with Mike Williamson still sidelined for a few weeks with ankle trouble, Pardew has few alternatives.

James Perch is the only realistic candidate to come in and fill Taylor's position at the heart of the defence alongside skipper Fabricio Coloccini, who would also normally be rested if more players were available.

Pardew tried to address a lack of defensive cover when he moved to sign Liam Ridgewell from Birmingham on deadline day in August. A failure to secure his signature, however, left Newcastle short.

"Central defence is the position that is most vulnerable," said Pardew. "I almost knew something like that would happen on Saturday. In actual fact, I predicted it before the game. I just felt by the law of averages, something wasn't going to go well and that's why I changed the bench."

He added: "In the last window we tried to get a centre-half in, which we didn't manage to do - that wasn't due to finance, that was down to the other club, who actually didn't want him to leave at that stage.

"We have Williamson of course and the big fella is struggling with an ankle injury. It is one of our weaker areas at the minute but when Williamson comes back I'll be a lot more comfortable."

Pardew will have the Newcastle medical department assess Taylor over the next 24 hours before deciding on his team to face Blackburn. He has not ruled out the centre-back wearing a protective mask.

But the Newcastle boss does not have the option of fielding Shola Ameobi at Ewood Park. In fact the former England Under-21 international will be lucky to play before December with a hamstring problem sustained against Wigan.

With Hatem Ben Arfa keen to start behind a lone striker striker, and both Demba Ba and Leon Best looking to keep out Peter Lovenkrands and Sammy Ameobi, Shola's injury does not concern Pardew greatly.

But the Newcastle boss said: "He's out for four to six weeks. That's a blow for us. He's going to be a loss for us and the fans, who will see how important he is to us when he's not there. He did it in the first five minutes he was on, but played on (for the last 17 minutes) which showed the character he is."

Such has been Newcastle's impressive start to the season, the injury problems that exist have not dampened down the manager's spirits too much before he holds an open training session in front of the fans at St James' on Friday morning.

And he was satisfied with the boardroom's decision to try to fill the ground for the rest of the season by offering up the new season ticket offer to existing season ticket holders.

With only five home games gone, supporters who take advantage will be able to watch the final 14 home matches of the season at an attractive rate. A standard Gallowgate season ticket would now average out at less than £15 a game, while a child could have a seat in the family enclosure for £2.64 per game.

"It's about the best offer in the country in terms of price for the games left," said Pardew, aware of half-season ticket offers that are offered at a number of clubs, including Sunderland.

"It's a gesture in terms of the financial position the country is in, not just the North-East. To get more people in every week is what we want. It's a great gesture and I'm really grateful."

And managing director Derek Llambias said: "What we'd like to do now is encourage more supporters to come to St James' Park and get behind the team."The atmosphere of as full house at Newcastle United is hard to beat and I know, from talking to Alan, his coaching staff and the players, just how much it lifts the team, and can give us the edge."