Newcastle endured a rather dreadful season that almost ended with the ultimate disaster of relegation, only to scrape clear right at the end. Things looked pretty promising at the start of the season as Alan Pardew was able to attract some pretty good players in Remy Cabella and Siem de Jong and the hopes were for a good challenge for the European places. But it was quite a poor start of the season for the team from Tyneside as they failed to pick up a single win in the first seven games of the season. They turned a particularly inept showing in a 4:0 defeat away at Southampton in September and it looked quite likely that Pardew will be sacked very soon, with the players reportedly unhappy with him and the fans definitely turning on the manager. But he managed to somehow ride the storm and lead the team to an improbable and excellent five-game winning streak from October onwards. There was some real grit and togetherness on show from the Magpies as they upset Liverpool and Tottenham along the way, while also beating Manchester City in an away League Cup tie. Suddenly, there was a lot more positivity about the place and Newcastle managed to claim the biggest of scalps in December when getting the better of Chelsea too for a 2:1 win. They were pretty close to the European slots back then and the hopes were for more of the same for the rest of the season. Moussa Sissoko was providing excellent driving force and presence from midfield while Ayoze Perez was proving a real find up front, having joined as an unknown prospect from Spain in the summer. But that was as good as it would get for the Tyneisders as a last-gasp loss to the big rivals, Sunderland, soon turned the mood glum again. Pardew was gone soon enough and it was not because of the team’s results but because he was lured by Crystal Palace. That left Newcastle in a bit of a lurch and they opted for the assistant, John Carver, as replacement for the rest of the season. Newcastle looked to have enough in the locker for safe mid-table presence for the rest of the season. A descent in form was always likely to take place in the second half of the season but things were even worse than imagined. Carver displayed little tactical nous and ability to motivate and his team certainly looked aimless and easy to play against. Carver managed just a couple of wins in a run of 17 league games in charge prior to the final weekend of the season. They still looked set to finish safely in the bottom half of the table but the improved form of a number of teams below them really turned the heat on the Magpies by April. Some dire showings, particularly in a 1:0 loss at Sunderland and a 3:0 collapse at Leicester during an eight-game losing streak put the team in massive jeopardy of actually going down. There was panic stations all around the side as they desperately tried to arrest the slump and prevent the unthinkable. It all boiled down to a home game against West Ham at the final day of the season and the Magpies managed to raise their game and secure the vital 2:0 win that kept them afloat. But this has been a campaign that has left scars all around the club and there is a big rebuilding job for a new manager to come over the summer.
