Somehow , to the backdrop of supporter unrest , protests and a worst-ever start to a Premier League season , Alan Pardew managed to excavate five straight victories from a Newcastle side which ranks as their most uninspiring of recent years . Many fans may be loath to admit as much – others readily do – but without that freakish run manufactured by an embattled Pardew , they would be headed for a second relegation in seven seasons . Remove those five wins and United would have just 20 points – the autumn run , then , has saved them from the fall . Alan Pardew 's five-game winning run was crucial to Newcastle 's season , who would only be on 20 points . Newcastle 's fans protested for the board to sack Pardew as manager and were delighted when he resigned . When Pardew quit for Crystal Palace at the end of December , Newcastle were ninth . They were seven points off fourth and 10 from danger . Today – on the back of six consecutive defeats - they are lucky that seven points still separate them from the bottom three , while the gap to fourth has extended to 29 . The 35 points on which they currently reside will probably be enough to renew their top-flight status . Pardew won 26 of those . Three weeks before embarking on that winning stretch , Pardew had appeared on the brink of dismissal . Behind the scenes , owner Mike Ashley was never going to dispense with his manager on the say-so of fan fury . Nonetheless , Pardew cut a resigned and wounded figure following a 1-0 defeat at Stoke which left Newcastle joint bottom with Burnley . Since his departure the players have look uninterested and unhappy playing for the club and John Carver . From the negativity , however , was born a perverse positivity , driven by Pardew ’ s determination to repair a reputation so badly stained that his next posting would surely have been outside of the Premier League . Crucially , he kept his players on side – no mean feat given their current levels of disinterest – and so emerged a siege mentality which , on reflection , was to yield a season-saving 15 points . Reputation restored , Pardew ’ s exit plan was in place . He ’ d had enough of playing politician , caught at the centre of a toxic relationship between Ashley and the club ’ s fanbase . The 53-year-old appeared to have hit rock bottom against Stoke but picked up the players for the winning run . Replacement John Carver – like Pardew , the sole public face of the crisis club – is discovering just how poisonous that atmosphere has become . It has now permeated a playing staff which , like the thousands of supporters who boycotted Sunday ’ s 3-1 defeat at home to Spurs , have failed to turn up for the best part of 2015 . Pardew , of course , was not without some serious flaws , and it was he who presided over six straight losses last season . But in his absence the club has begun to unravel . The squad has shown its true colours – a depressing grey which lacks energy , passion and invention . Carver is proving he 's not cut out for top-level management , with two wins in the last 14 games . This sad situation , however , is the cause of a hierarchy which has stripped the club of ambition and meaning . With each passing defeat and demonstration , it becomes more apparent that perhaps Pardew was not the problem . In fact , without him , their problems could have been far worse .
Newcastle United would be on 20 points if Alan Pardew 's five wins were removed . John Carver has won just two games in 14 since taking over the side . Newcastle United 's players look uninterested and uninspired since he left the club . The 53-year-old has made a blistering start in charge of Crystal Palace . CLICK HERE for all the latest Newcastle news .