From the depths of depression and despair to wild and unrestrained euphoria, sometimes all in the space of a week, Newcastle United have tended to show all the symptoms of Bipolar Disorder.
It is a rollercoaster ride you simply cannot get off, full of exhilarating highs and stomach churning lows, or at least it has been ever since Kevin Keegan gave the archetypical sleeping giant an almighty kick up the backside in 1992.
In the 19 years since Keegan used Sir John Hall’s money to restore the club to something like its former glory, expectations have run wild on Tyneside.
It is not true to say Newcastle supporters expect to win trophies, that is clearly misleading when the Magpies have not won a major trophy since 1969, a domestic one since 1955 and the league title since 1927.
But they do expect to be in the mix, jostling for European positions, snapping at the heels of the super-heavyweights in their division and landing telling blows while they do it.
And, they have, since Keegan, been expected to do it in an attractive, attacking style with the emphasis on goals scored, not conceded.
Keegan helped transform a football club and, in doing so, helped reawaken several others. Having seen how much could be done with a little bit investment and momentum, the Hall-Keegan axis galvanised all of English football.
Keegan, of course, did not win anything, but he turned Newcastle into a major attraction again, a force to be reckoned with and he did it with flair.
His success has weighed heavily on the shoulders of all those who have followed him into the St James’ Park dugout. It says much about the magnitude of the challenge that only a titan of the game like Sir Bobby Robson has matched his achievements.
Newcastle fans are generally viewed with mixture of bewildered admiration and begrudging respect, if only for continuing to turn up in their thousands to follow a team which persistently fails to match their expectations.
There are some who mock their misguided loyalty, while Sunderland supporters can rarely mention their local rivals without the words arrogant and deluded creeping into the conversation, but generally speaking I suspect there is more respect than ridicule.
Expectations, though, have perhaps never been lower on Tyneside and if Mike Ashley has done one thing successfully since he took over four years ago it is this.
It is not necessarily a bad thing as Alan Pardew and his squad are starting to discover. Tipped for a relegation battle after an uninspiring summer which saw virtually none of the £35m Andy Carroll fee spent on transfers, Newcastle’s supporters headed into the new season with a sense of foreboding, or worse, apathy.
With the club’s iconic number nine shirt remaining vacant after a mistake-ridden search for Carroll’s replacement, Pardew’s side were not expected to achieve anything more than disappointment and, with a bit of luck, top flight survival.
The early signs are far more encouraging than that. The leaves are still on the trees so no need to get carried away, but for once nobody is.
There is just quiet satisfaction because, for once, Newcastle are exceeding expectations, not failing short. Newcastle’s squad is small, but it is talented, while Pardew has created the sort of siege mentality every team intending to punch above its weight needs.
Newcastle are well-drilled and well organised. They have shed the Entertainers tag, but have not suffered negative publicity because of it.
In fact, Pardew has done what Sam Allardyce failed to do. He has made Newcastle, first and foremost, a difficult team to breakdown, difficult to beat. Stubborn, obstinate and belligerent, not exciting, expansive and flaky.
Pardew, though, hasn’t shouted about it in every press conference and repeatedly told everyone how clever he is, as Big Sam had a nasty habit of doing during his short spell as manager.
Newcastle do not have to play attractive, attacking football. Of course, it is preferential, but a win will be celebrated as a win, regardless of how it came about. This has been the subtle shift Pardew has managed to oversee.
Where once there would have been excited chatter about a European push after an unbeaten start to the campaign, and even a shot at silverware in one of the cup competitions, there is just contentment things have not begun nearly as badly as feared.
Newcastle still need a striker to fill the number nine shirt, regardless of Leon Best’s run of three goals in four games, and the squad only looks a couple of injuries away from being stretched in any department, but at the moment solid rather than spectacular is going down rather well.
