OLIVIER Bernard last night challenged Newcastle's board to make him an improved contract offer before January.

The French full-back becomes a free agent in May and if he is still to sign a new deal by the turn of the year, United will be powerless to prevent him talking to other clubs.

The two parties have been at loggerheads since the end of last season, with Bernard claiming that no contract offer has been made while Newcastle maintain a perfectly reasonable proposal is currently on the table.

The 23-year-old had warned previous boss Sir Bobby Robson that he would be prepared to walk away from St James' Park if the club refused to back down, and new manager Graeme Souness is aware of his current situation.

Bernard has claimed that the Scot has told him he wants him to stay and, with time gradually ticking away, the ball is now firmly in the court of Freddy Shepherd and his fellow Newcastle directors.

"The manager has said he wants to keep me and I would like to stay, but it is up to the board now if I do," said Bernard, who came close to walking out on Newcastle to join West Ham two years ago.

"If the manager wants me to stay then they should back his decision. I was pleased to hear the manager say that, but I don't know whether it will change anything.

"This has been going on too long now and I am angry about it. I'm not asking for anything unreasonable, but there has been no movement from the board.

"They know I want to stay at Newcastle, that would be my preference, but I will leave if I have to.

"If that happens, nobody will be sadder than me about it, but I have accepted that I might be forced to because I cannot agree a contract."

Bernard remains Newcastle's first-choice left-back despite the wrangling and, while he might have turned in an uncharacteristically sloppy display against Hapoel Bnei Sakhnin on Thursday, the defender has insisted that the dispute is not having an adverse effect on his performances.

"If I have not agreed a new contract by January then there is a good chance that I will leave Newcastle at the end of the season," he said.

"I'm angry about it, but I will not let it affect my performances on the pitch. When I'm playing, I put that to the back of my mind and concentrate on playing well. It is only when I'm not playing that I think about it."

Thursday's success made it two away wins in a row after last month's 2-1 victory over Southampton at St Mary's, a result that broke a run of almost 11 months without a Premiership away win.

The Magpies' dreadful away form proved costly last term but, despite a defeat at Villa Park already this season, there are signs that Souness' side have turned the corner as they prepare for a second trip to Birmingham.

"We've got a team capable of playing well and winning games away from home," said Bernard. "We have players who can score a lot of goals and, with the pace we've got, we have the ability to hit teams on the counter-attack.

"Our away form last year was a mystery. We couldn't win in the league, but we got some good results when we played away in Europe. It was strange and it meant we missed out on the Champions League.

"But we have started well away from home this season. We should have won at Middlesbrough on the first day of the season and we were unlucky against Aston Villa.

"Since then we've gone to Southampton and Israel and won so we have confidence that we can keep our run going at Birmingham. It is always hard when you've played on the Thursday night and then have another away game, but we can cope with it."

l Newcastle have appointed former first-team coach John Carver as the Academy Director.