Prior to the start of the season Newcastle were many peoples’ tip for a surprise struggle against relegation. As it’s turned out, nothing could have been further from the truth.

Overview

Considering the vastly different sizes of the two clubs and the distance between them geographically it’s strange that QPR and Newcastle have been linked quite so often by so many high profile player and manager connections. Even in recent years the sides have exchanged Joey Barton, Peter Ramage, Fitz Hall and Wayne Routledge but of late it’s been a love of the absolutely ridiculous that has linked these two famous old clubs more than anything else.

Perhaps a club that would like to consider itself well run and avoid negative headlines would be well served by poaching a senior member of back office staff from both QPR and Newcastle , employing them in some high end job and then doing exactly the opposite of everything they suggest. QPR and Newcastle have, for more than a decade, been like sniffer dogs for farce. Even when things appear to be going splendidly you always get the feeling that they’re poised, nose in the air, just waiting for the whiff of a chance to explode into another storm of negative publicity.

QPR’s managerial merry-go-round, taste for FA investigations into dodgy financial dealings, flirtations with complete collapse and plenty else besides is all too well documented on LFW down the years. But Newcastle haven’t been much better. They seem to attract overweight chairman with a penchant for whipping their shirt off and making ludicrous remarks about the city, the club’s supporters and the women of the north east when they think they’re not being filmed – they always are. They too have more managers than Ashley Young has Chatroulette sessions and we never seem to be more than about half an hour away from another live Sky Sports News piece from outside St James’ Park where the great unwashed have gathered to mouth off about some perceived disaster or other. It must be time for the fourth (or is it the fifth?) coming of Kevin Keegan shortly too.

It appeared, last December, as if the Magpies’ taste for the ridiculous had got the better of them once more. The had sunk to their lowest ebb for quite some time 18 months previously when, freshly relegated from the Premiership, they shipped six in a pre-season friendly at Leyton Orient. After that match a meeting between players and caretaker manager Chris Hughton proved to be a catalyst for a title winning season in the Championship, concluded as all good title winning seasons should be with a celebration on the pitch at Loftus Road . Incidentally the omens are good for Manchester City – the final QPR game of the season for the last three years has involved a team that has just won the title and the R’s are at Eastlands on the final day of this season.

Hughton was well liked, and a dressing room with “characters” like Joey Barton, Kevin Nolan, Andy Carroll and others in it had been tamed, united and galvanised under his stewardship. They started their first season back in the Premiership well too – climbing into midtable with memorable wins at Arsenal and 6-0 at home against Aston Villa.

But there was always that sense that having promoted them, Hughton would nevertheless be out of the door in favour of one of controversial chairman Mike Ashley’s preferred managers at the first possibly opportunity and so it proved. Sacked in December with Newcastle in midtable, the decision was universally criticised by fans, players and the media. The Tyneside public didn’t like it one bit, and when it was announced that CEO Derek Llambias’ casino partner Alan Pardew was their preferred choice to succeed Hughton the mood turned really ugly. Never has an appointment of a manager who wasn’t Gary Megson been met with such revulsion by a set of supporters and Pardew freely admits he almost turned his car around and went home after hearing some of the views being expressed on the radio as he drove up the A1 to sign the contract.

With Pardew in place Ashley and Llambias then set about dismantling Hughton’s squad. Andy Carroll was sold to Liverpool for £35m and was followed through the exit door by first Kevin Nolan and then Joey Barton who were allowed to leave for free. So much talent with so few high profile replacements meant I had Newcastle down as surprise relegation strugglers this season. That has turned out to be as good as all my other tips – the Magpies started the campaign with 11 unbeaten matches and although their form dipped slightly pre-Christmas they hammered Man Utd 3-0 last time out and are safely positioned on the cusp of the European places.

One thing I did get right in my previous Newcastle write up though was that a lot of pundits seemed to be writing them off simply because, generally, English pundits and fans know next to nothing about the European game. They assumed because they hadn’t heard of Davide Santon, Yohan Cabaye, Cheik Tiote and others when they arrived that they were, by default, no good.

In fact the decision to allow those big name, and big mouthed, players leave over the course of last season has proved to be a master stroke. Nolan now plays in a division lower, Barton is winning few friends in West London and struggling against relegation with QPR, and Liverpool would struggle to sell Andy Carroll for £3.5m now, never mind the £35m they paid for him. Meanwhile Pardew has done a superb job building an attractive, dangerous and highly professional (on and off the pitch) outfit.

Apart from Nile Ranger’s fortnightly attempt to claim the title of world’s biggest waste of flesh, which usually takes the form of punching people in nightclubs or waving firearms around, Newcastle players have all but vanished from the front end of the national press. No more dust ups in Bigg Market, no more cars being randomly set on fire on people’s drives, no more punching team mates on the pitch. They’re almost normal for God’s sake.

Can it ever last?

Interview

For the second time this season we bid good day to LoftforWords’ man in the north east and St James’ Park regular James Harrison. It’s fair to say I didn’t agree with his optimism for the season ahead when we spoke in September but he’s been proved right so far. So how are things now?

James when you were so optimistic about Newcastle 's season back in August despite all the departures I thought you were mad. You were spot on. What do you put the success down to this term?

The success mainly has to be put down to the defence, and the partnership of Coloccini and Steven Taylor in particular. To only concede eight goals in the first 11 games made me think we had the best central defensive pairing in England and before Taylor 's injury and he really should have got an England call up ahead of Captain Racist. Not that I care what happens with the England national team these days.

Is Demba Ba class or just in form? How will Newcastle cope without him during the African Nations Cup?

The latest song is (to the tune of Just Can't Get Enough) "Demba's scored 15 since Ramadan". When we last spoke Ba hadn't scored and was looking like Shola Mark II; slow, lethargic and a bit heavy. Once he finished fasting he was like a stallion. I admired him last season for West Ham and was really pleased when we signed him so I think he is that good. Sadly as Harry Redknapp has his beef curtain eyes on him he’ll probably be a spurs player come February 1.

Has this season vindicated Mike Ashley's previously unpopular decisions as chairman? Have the Newcastle fans cut him any slack as a result of the season you're having?

Two steps forward, one step back. For very signing like Santon, Ba, Cabaye there is the "Sports Direct Arena" and CEO Derek Llambias slagging off Shearer and the supporters. They really don't make things easy for themselves.

Apart from Ba, who have been the stand out performers? Where is the team weak?

As well as the centre backs Ryan Taylor has proved himself to be invaluable as a utility player and Davide Santon looks like superb business. Selling Enrique has made no difference and if anything showed just how underrated Gutierrez' defensive cover is. Cabaye has been superb with his quick adaptation to English football and is the player I've been dreaming Newcastle would get ever since we sold Gary Speed.

In terms of weaknesses relying on James Perch as defensive cover is a recipe for disaster. He was in the pitch five seconds against Stoke before getting booked. This isn't popular opinion but I don't see what Chieck Tiote offers the team. He's too negative (I'm pretty sure he's never played a forward pass) and too often he is booked early which makes him a passenger.

What would you like to see Newcastle do in the transfer window?

Not sell Ba. Again not popular opinion but I would sell Tiote and try get a more attacking midfielder. Too much of our play relies on wingers supplying Ba and we need more goals from midfield which Tiote won't do. Also a good central defender for cover is a must and we have been linked with James Tomkins at West Ham who didn't impress me at all in the Premiership. Personally I don't understand why we're not interested in Vedran Corluka who can play across the back. In my wettest, wildest dreams we would sign Olivier Giroud from Montpellier.

What are your ambitions for the rest of the season and moving forward. What can Newcastle realistically achieve in the short and medium term?

After our good start I think we reassessed what we wanted. Now the minimum is a top half and ideally we would want to be in Europe to finally get back the books in the black and attract more top European players. Obviously the jobless, deluded retards who fill up Sky Sports News every time Ashley rattles the cage expect nothing less than Champions League which is unrealistic this season perhaps ever given the money needed there days. Our games against Stoke, Everton, Villa, West Brom, Fulham, Norwich and Sunderland will define our season.

What do you make of the situation at QPR since we last met?

The sacking of Warnock wasn't surprising. Having to wait until late August to buy players past their best was only ever going to give short term gains. Personally I don't rate Mark Hughes at all (though his record against us is good). I would have thought Fernandes is forward thinking enough to hire a more progressive manager and use his F1 team's blueprint; stay ahead of the backmarkers whilst trying to catch the midfield pack over the coming seasons. You've got fantastic support and I really do hope you stay up at the expense the likes of Wigan, Blackburn and Bolton.

Manager

All of which bodes well for QPR. They too have just sacked a popular manager just months after he won them promotion from the Championship in fine style, and replaced him with somebody who shouldn't immediately appeal to Rangers fans. Mark Hughes spent his playing career with Man Utd and Chelsea, which isn't a good start for a QPR manager, and exacerbated that by spending every meeting with Rangers elbowing Alan McDonald and Paul Parker in the face. Since retiring he's managed Fulham, two miles down the road.

But this course of action – sacking the man that got you there, appointing an unpopular choice in his stead – worked wonders for Newcastle . Pardew, with the help of Newcastle 's chief scout Graham Carr, has assembled a superb side on a tight budget, scouring Europe for the best undiscovered talent. Hughes has certainly shown an ability to do that in the past with Roque Santa Cruz, Benni McCarthy, Chris Samba and Ryan Nelson all arriving at Blackburn for knock down prices and excelling, and Moussa Dembele signing for Fulham during his time there too.

The Pardew appointment was initially unpopular for a number of reasons. Anything Mike Ashley does on Tyneside is immediately criticised in the same way that anything Gianni Paladini did in W12 is always seen as a failure before it’s even begun – with good reason on both counts to be fair. Pardew was a mate of Ashley’s, and CEO Derek Lambias, and struck the supporters as a bit of yes man for their unpopular chairman. Also, his predecessor Chris Hughton had done a very sound job in trying circumstances in promoting the team into the Premiership and keeping it there making a lot of friends along the way and it yet it seemed as if they couldn’t wait to get rid of him.

But Pardew’s record is actually quite reasonable. As a player he was a ball playing midfielder who graduated from non-league and played more than 100 times for first Crystal Palace and then Charlton, reaching the FA Cup final in 1990. He finished his playing career at Reading where he then began coaching and was later promoted to manager after a successful spell as caretaker. Reading were chronic under-achievers in the third tier at the time but Pardew quickly fixed that, promoting them into Division One and then leaving for West Ham after a messy poaching operation.

He promoted West Ham from the Championship as well, and then took them to the FA Cup final where they were desperately unfortunate not to beat Liverpool . Poor results the 2006/07 season, and a takeover at Upton Park, saw him removed and he was then unable to keep Charlton up that year after they’d messed around with Iain Dowie and Les Reed for far too long. His attempts to promote them back to the top flight did more harm than good and the Addicks are now in the third tier.

He turned up at Southampton where, despite starting the season on minus ten points, he almost took them into the play offs and won the Football League trophy. He was sacked anyway after about five minutes of the following campaign, but this was again due to a clash of personalities rather than what he was doing with the team.

So we’re not exactly talking Paul Hart here, and he's quickly won the Tyneside public around. Hell, if Newcastle happen to go on another good run through to the end of the season we might see him being touted for the England job come May – a scary thought now, but unthinkable this time last year.

Scout Report

The scout report this week is almost all about players who aren’t playing, rather than ones who are. Both teams are going to have to cope with the absence of key players in vital positions on the field if they are to win this game. For Newcastle the two stars of their recent win against Manchester United, Demba Ba and Cheik Tiote, have both left for the African Nations Cup and are unavailable. QPR are without midfield pair Alejandro Faurlin and the suspended Joey Barton, and also have Adel Taarabt and Armand Traore in Africa too.

When I wrote this piece in September Demba Ba barely featured in it. He’d scored seven goals in ten starts for a poor, and eventually relegated, West Ham team the season before and moved to Newcastle courtesy of a relegation release clause in his contract. But it was often stated that his knee was held together by elastic bands and chewing gum and said to be a “ticking timebomb” by Stoke manager Tony Pulis who turned down the chance to sign him from Hoffeinheim on medical advice.

Ba didn’t start at Loftus Road , and didn’t score in his first five appearances for the club as he fasted for Ramadan. But he burst onto the Tyneside scene with a hat trick against Blackburn in September, made Stoke pay for rejecting him with another treble at the Britannia Stadium in October and has scored 15 goals in his last 16 appearances for the Toon. When I saw him against Man Utd last week he scored a fabulous opener and should have won a penalty when clearly fouled in the area by Rio Ferdinand. Pardew paired him with the equally physical but half as talented Shola Ameobi in a heavyweight forward line that roughed Man Utd up and played a key role in an impressive 3-0 victory.

Ba though is now in Africa and Pardew must cope without him. Best and Ameobi played together at Loftus Road in September and were very poor indeed, posing next to no threat at all. With the more mobile Sammy Ameobi now out injured as well his choices are limited in attack, and Tiote has been removed from his important destroyer role at the base of the midfield as well. With Steven Taylor out injured that spine of the team that formed the bedrock of the early season unbeaten run has gone.

That choice of strike force against United reinforced the point that Alan Pardew likes to pick a horse for a course. When I saw them at Stoke earlier this season they played a defensive line as high up the field as I can ever recall seeing in a Premiership match. They could afford to do this because Stoke’s forward line that night was so incredibly slow and the result was all of the Pulis-ball flew into the gaping space behind the defence and away to nothingness with nobody quick enough to chase it. This was combined with a superb defensive job in the wide areas, with Jonas Guttierez almost playing as a second left back, to keep Pennant and Etherington out of the game. They were magnificent that night and won 3-1.

Another recurring theme when I’ve watched Newcastle this season, in stark contrast to ourselves of course, is the high quality of their set pieces, and also the inventiveness of some of the routines as well. Ryan Taylor is well known for his prowess from both direct and indirect free kicks but Ba and Yohan Cabaye have also lashed home eye catching direct strikes from deadballs in recent games. Rangers must also be wary of their technique from corners where they often pack the six yard area, with a striker on the goalkeeper, only to then pull the corner back out to the vacant area between penalty spot and the edge of the area where late arrivers have more space and freedom to cause problems.

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