Mike Ashley must be breathing several sighs of relief right now, with all the pressure on his under-fire manager Alan Pardew lifted after a run of five league wins in a row.
Any other manager would've been out on his ear after Newcastle's frequent dreadful runs, but not Pardew. He has a secret weapon, one that was handed to him by his chairman in a move that, even at the time, was widely decried as the worst decision since someone stood up at Wembley in 1996 and said "Hey, that Gareth Southgate lad can take penalties, right?"
The eight-year deal that Pardew signed in September 2012 meant that even two years into the deal, the club would have to shell out something in the region of £5m to get rid of him.
The dilemma, for now, is gone. Newcastle have flown up the table from 18th to 5th in the space of five matches and Pardew and co are being held up as an example of the good that can come from giving a manager some leeway - and having some patience.
It's just a shame that it's all a bit nonsense.
Okay, it's true and pretty impressive that the Magpies have won five games in a row, but they've been playing against opponents who have basically handed them matches.
They came up against a Spurs side who honestly seem to enjoy losing games of football (is there any other explanation?), snuck past a Leicester side who...well, they're Leicester. An out of form Liverpool (no wins, three losses in four games), West Brom and QPR followed.
In the average five-game winning streak, teams usually have to beat a couple of solid, top-half teams. The highest placed of Newcastle's opponents are now Spurs, after their late win over Hull on Sunday took them to the dizzying heights of 10th place.
The point at the end of this tunnel is that this was far from a season-saving run. A job-saving one, quite possibly, but just two more games could see Newcastle nestled back down in 14th place and then the whole #PardewOut cycle could start again.
If you're a regular here, you might know that my personal ideal usually involves giving managers heaps of time, because a team doesn't come together overnight, but Pardew hasn't had 'overnight' - he'll celebrate four years in charge of the club in a fortnight and only Arsene Wenger has a longer reign in the top two tiers of English football.
Pardew's had his time and while it's arguable whether or not he's taken the club backwards in that time, he's certainly not made the kind of advances that a club would want from four years of the same regime.
The side he took over in 2010 were plodding along in mid-table and prone to bouts of spontaneous collapse. The side he manages now are mid-to-low table staples - barring their brief top-half excursion at the moment - and are still liable to fall apart when the faintest bit of pressure is applied.
This is the time when managers should be sacked. Not in a panic at a run of bad results, not after failing to deliver immediate success, but when it's clear that he can't bring any kind of forward momentum to the club despite being given plenty of time and resources.
It'll cost the club - and Mike Ashley - a hefty chunk of change, but £5m isn't the worst thing in the long-term, if it means more success.
If it's going to be done though, it should be done soon so that his replacement can have a dabble in the January transfer window and a few months to settle in before next season. It almost certainly won't happen, but it's nice to think about.
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