Newcastle: Cup Success Could Help Beat Relegation Fears

Sometimes it's hard to take the published "advice" of Sunderland fans seriously when it comes to Newcastle United. Chris Waddle proved as much recently when he wrongly stated that Newcastle fans should accept Alan Pardew because he was as good as we could expect, as a mid-table club. But Steve Howey is a different matter altogether. The former Toon defender - a self-confessed Sunderland fan - has said today that Newcastle should pay attention to the lessons offered by the Black Cats' almost successful cup runs last season. While Newcastle have pointed out "research" that any team outside the top six will immediately get relegated if they win a cup (as with Birmingham City and Wigan), or even make the final (Middlesbrough, Portsmouth, Brighton, Leicester and Man City), Howey says the cup run last year helped Poyet's side survive.

€œApparently the club have said the cups are not really one of their main concerns, but last year Sunderland were more or less dead and buried before they went on their cup run. €œTheir run to the final helped to get them out of it, so it is important."

Looking back on last season it is true that Sunderland received an almighty confidence boost from their two cup runs. They had looked to be tumbling out of the league without a whimper until the injection of those victories and the emergence of Connor Wickham (a saviour who wouldn't have got a sniff if not for the cup). So while there are lessons from the relegated teams, there are also some to be had in Sunderland's unexpected resurgence last year. And frankly, the positive lessons are far more irresistible for us dreamers.