Andy Gray says silverware-shy Newcastle should aim for steady progress under Chris Hughton.
Hughton has helped to manage Toon Army expectations, says Andy
It's been an up-and-down start to the season for Newcastle to say the least.
Praised after thumping Aston Villa 6-0, they were booed by some fans after losing 2-0 at home to Blackpool only to take all three points off Everton last week.
All in all, though, I think Chris Hughton will consider seven points from the opening five games of the season a fair return from their opening fixtures.
Chris has been in and around the Premier League for many a year and served his apprenticeship so it is good to see him working with an owner who is prepared to give him a decent chance to prove himself.
I know Newcastle are sixth in the table right now but I still think it will be a tough season for them. The biggest difference for me between this team and the one that went down is confidence and it's amazing what that can do for a team.
Essentially the squad is made up of the same set of players that took them down - plus Dan Gosling, James Perch, Cheick Tiote, Hatem Ben Arfa and Sol Campbell.
They haven't spent big but they are not the only club in that position - Martin O'Neill walked out on Aston Villa because of that and overall Premier League spending was down in the last transfer window.
Chris will have known that when he took up the job on a permanent basis; he's been able to bring a few in since then but it's very much a case of getting on with it with the squad he has.
I'm not going to second-guess what plans Mike Ashley has for the club; at the moment it doesn't appear to be a viable proposition for potential buyers so that will be in the back of his mind and he's unlikely to spend millions and millions on the club as a result.
That leaves Newcastle in a halfway house but so long as they give a good account of themselves on the pitch I don't see it as a huge problem.
Power
In Andy Carroll they have a big, powerful No 9 with bags of potential. He's had a great start to the season, hitting that hat-trick against Villa, but he needs to keep learning.
He's in the right place because the Premier League is a great education. Newcastle will rely on him a lot for the goals that will keep them in the top-flight and it will be interesting to see how he matures as the season goes on.
One thing is for sure - all of the basic ingredients for goals are there: he has physical power, can head the ball well and has a good strike on him. I also like the way he leads the line; he can be a definite handful.
Shola Ameobi will have to play his part too. He'll know that scoring against Chelsea reserves in the Carling Cup is one thing and doing so in the Premier League is another.
More than anything he seems to suffer from a lack of confidence, which makes it all the more important that he chips in when he can.
Expectations
Now Steve Harper has joined Steven Taylor on the injured list the quality of Newcastle's squad will be tested to the full. Most squads - theirs included - can absorb losing a couple of players but they won't want any longer-term injuries.
Chris doesn't have the same depth of squad available to him as the big boys and that's where he could run into a few problems.
I think the Newcastle fans might have learnt a lot over the last couple of years. I always felt that when the likes of Kevin, Bobby Robson and Ruud Gullit were there that the fans expected to win the league almost as a matter of course.
This is a team that hasn't won anything for over 40 years.
Being in the Championship has helped to change those expectations. They shouldn't have any great ambitions as things stand but the players should still play for the shirt, give their all every week and make progress that way.
There isn't a quick fix through spending millions of pounds; the answer is a gradual progression of success and quality which helps Newcastle to stay in the top flight for a long period of time. That's the way forward.
To do that - with all due respect to Tony Pulis and his lads - they have to beat teams like Stoke.
I suspect, though, that Newcastle are finding that it's very difficult to play at home in the Premier League. Trying to take the game to teams when you don't have your best side available is often incredibly tough to do.
It may be that Newcastle end up with a better record away from St James' this season. We'll wait and see.
Tony will have his side fired up and that midweek win over Fulham will have given them an enormous amount of confidence; I'm sure they'll go to St James' thinking they can get something.
At the end of the day it's not like going somewhere like Old Trafford; Stoke are going to play a Newcastle side that is still finding its feet again in the big league. Results prove as much.
