Newcastle Fan View: Magpies look to cement top 10 finish

It is not often Newcastle United surprise me; I’d like to think I know my team well, the team I have supported through (mainly) the bad times and (occasionally) the good times my entire life. As a kid, with Kevin Keegan in charge, I went to every game expecting a win. In fact, I went to every game, regardless of the opposition, expecting a big win, a 5-0 victory, and my expectations were often matched.

Those days are long gone and Newcastle United is a now different animal altogether. No longer are we competing at the top, we’re very much at the other end of the league, or a different league entirely, these days. Other fans will lead you to believe that us Geordies are in some way “deluded”, they’d like you to believe that we think we have a God-given right to win, to compete and to be up there with the very best. But trust me, this couldn’t be further from the truth.

No Newcastle United fan I know expects a victory, we certainly do not expect to compete and, if anything, after years of decline, we often expect to lose, we always expect the worst. Since Keegan, the club has been in a steady decline and, despite a brief resurgence under the late Sir Bobby Robson, the club is far, far away from where it used to stand. Most fans are hurt by this but they accept it. Yes, we were spoiled during the Keegan days and had a glimpse at what being a top team was like, but those days are long gone. Football has changed, we have changed, money is King now, not Kevin.

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I’d like to think I can judge my team well and how they are going to do on a match-by-match basis, partly down to the mental scars they left when I used to have high hopes for them – these days I have learnt it is not worth getting too excited as more often than not, you will be let down. It is a coping strategy a lot of football fans employ, but especially Newcastle fans – expect nothing and you can’t be disappointed.

However, I have to hold my hands up and say I did not see the upturn in form coming, nor the fantastic individual performances we have seen recently. We, of course, have to give the credit to Rafa in the way he has stayed calm when the results haven’t gone our way and when the usual off-field dramas have occurred.

He has stayed level-headed when fans, myself very much included, have gone in to panic mode when staring yet another relegation in the face. The players also deserve credit – when the going has got tough they have stayed professional, done their job and got on with things; there have been some real standout performances throughout the side but every single one of them has played their part, from Diame’s rise to being the greatest defensive midfielder on the planet, to Ayoze Perez’s goal-scoring exploits, each one of them is a hero in their own right. Hard work has paid off and rather than facing relegation, we have a clear path ahead to finish in the top half of the Premier League.

Around Christmas time I did the local paper’s league predictor online and had us staying up, but only just. We had the last half of the season ahead of us but we were playing poorly and we were just a place above the drop zone. I had us down to win three, draw a couple and lose the rest. It was hardly an optimistic outlook, but the predictor had us finishing the season in 17th place, a point above the relegation zone.

At the time, I hadn’t expect us to win many more games and, in fact, only had us down to win our home games against so called lesser opposition; Southampton, Huddersfield Town and WBA. Two of those three games and been played and we have won both. What I didn’t expect was the home victory over Manchester United, the away win at Leicester or the home victory this weekend over Arsenal. Newcastle United have well over-achieved in my eyes but you won’t hear any complaints from me whatsoever!

The football we have played recently has been nothing short of fantastic and it is refreshing to see a consistent team pick from Rafa.

Rafa has always rotated the squad; last season it was down to the number of games we were playing but earlier this season he admitted he was trying to find a system, and a team that worked. Well, you know what? He most definitely has discovered the winning formula now. I watched the West Ham v Stoke match last night which finished 1-1 and football on show was atrocious. The media love to label Newcastle United as a Championship side but if West Ham and Stoke are “Premier League” class, then give me Rafa’s lot any day.

From goalkeeper to striker, Newcastle United fans have a team, and a manager, they can be very proud of. We have never expected a team that wins but we have always expected a team that tries and that is precisely what we have now. I said in my last article that we have to look at this season as a success; it always was about survival and now we have reached 41 points, survival is all but guaranteed. We should go in to the remaining five games of the season with our heads held high, the pressure is off but the team should be looking to push on from their successes this season. We have some very hard games coming up and if anyone can push the team on and keeping the players focused until the very last kick of the season, it is Rafa.

I am sure there will be usual political battle going on off the field this summer as transfer budgets and targets are set, and there is, of course, the club sale to come back in to the picture. But right now, I am enjoying the actual football and it is a long time since I have been able to say that.