For the first time in a long time Alan Pardew has delivered a team that Newcastle United fans can be pretty proud of.

Finishing the season in the top five is a fantastic achievement that few would have predicted back in August, but game by game this team has grown in stature and confidence.

And while there has been the odd hiccup during the run-in, games against the so called bigger guns in the Premier League are no longer matches to fear.

Indeed after a summer of turmoil and departures, how many Geordie fans expected to be coming away from places like Chelsea, Manchester United or even the likes of Stoke City this season with anything but a painful defeat?

How times change eh?

At the risk of sounding more experienced I remember when Manchester City turned up in such a bad state that their fans sarcastically celebrated the award of a corner as if it was a goal.

At the end of 90 minutes against Newcastle today, City players were celebrating having one hand on the Premier League trophy.

It was back in the 1995/96 season as City were floored by Kevin Keegan's Entertainers.

City ended the season relegated under Alan Ball at the start of a journey that led them to places like Macclesfield and Colchester!

After six years, European football will make a welcome return to Tyneside and the Toon Army will make a welcome return to the continent.

We're yet to see if it will be via the Europa League or the Champions League, but hey it's back and Geordie fans are ready to make the most of it.

After all no matter what happens now - this is more than most fans bargained for at the start of the campaign.

Should James Perch get a piece of the action against Stoke City it could see the down to earth Mansfield lad come full circle in a black and white shirt.

Perch of course netted an own goal in the corresponding fixture when he put one past Tim Krul in the dying stages to win the game for the Potters.

Most people who have played the game at any level know exactly how it feels to score an OG, and Perch probably wanted the ground to swallow him up.

He found it tough at first in Toon scoring not only the OG against Stoke but also struggled to adapt to the pace of the Premier League, picking up four yellow cards in his first four games.

But refused to crumble that day and he's since refused to throw the towel in on his Newcastle career.

It's an amazing fact but Alan Pardew is on course to be the first Newcastle United manager to complete a Premier League season since Bobby Robson in 2003/04.

Graeme Souness, Glenn Roeder, Sam Allardyce, Kevin Keegan, Joe Kinnear, Chris Hughton and Alan Shearer were all given limited time to get it right at St James' Park, despite pleas during their time in charge for "stability" on Tyneside.

Despite those pleas none of them were able to get from game one to game 38 without enduring the dreaded chop.

Don't get me wrong - if Demba Ba is lining up for Newcastle United in a black and white shirt next season you won't find a proper Geordie who isn't happy about it.

But if he opts to move, which some people believe is now looking on the cards - few would be surprised given football's everchanging climate when it comes to recruitment.

Ba has been fantastic in his first season and with 16 goals so far has exceeded many pre-season expectations.

Unsurprisingly, this has resulted in football's vultures circling the Magpies' nest and as the season nears the finishing line.

Ba is understood to be wanted by Paris St Germain while Tottenham Hotspur's Harry Redknapp has also been vocal about the striker in the last few months.

Papiss Cisse's amazing start to life in the number 9 shirt continues with nine goals in his first eight Premier League games.

But despite his sparkling record thus far he must keep up the pace to stay in touch with same sensational start made by Les Ferdinand in 1995.

Sir Les was sitting pretty with nine in eight matches but in games nine and 10 he stepped things up in games

Only Newcastle could get lumbered with a 700 mile round trip on a bank holiday to Swansea but there's every chance that Alan Pardew will be as good as his word when it comes to delivering another top notch performance.

They will travel to Wales with confidence - and so they should.

After all, Newcastle are in their best position at this stage of a season since the days of Bobby Robson in 2002/03 when they managed a top four finish.

And in the shape of Papiss Cisse they have a man in form with only Les Ferdinand being able to boast a better start to his career, edging ahead of the Senegal star with one more strike than Cisse's seven in seven opening gambit.

As painful as the Kenny Dalglish era was for Newcastle United fans - the Scot never really stood a chance from the minute he stepped into his office at St James' Park.

Replacing a Messiah, can't be easy can it?

And if you are a determined figure like Dalglish - who is only used to being adored by fans no matter what decision you make in football - a combination of his own stubborn outlook on how the job should be done and filling the massive void left by Kevin Keegan was almost going to be the impossible job.

James Perch's rise from fallen full-back to terrace favourite reminded me of when Warren Barton walked a similar path in a Newcastle United shirt.

In Barton's case it was more of a rocky road but one he emerged from with credit.

He arrived as a big money signing from Wimbledon but soon knew the step up and expectations on Tyneside were huge in comparison to little old Wimbledon.

Like Perch, Barton suffered a tricky start to his Toon career and was made scapegoat by some during the 1995/96 season.

As the pressure intensified Kevin Keegan dropped him from the team with Steve Watson taking his place in the run-in.