Why Newcastle's Crisis Is Short-Changing Fans, but Contains Intrigue Nonetheless

With the season's last fortnight left to parse, nearly everything about the 2014/15 Premier League has been sorted.

Chelsea are champions; Manchester City, Arsenal and Manchester United should complete the top four. Burnley and Queens Park Rangers will be relegated, and Bournemouth and Watford will take their place. All that remains is the last relegation spot and the Championship play-offs to determine the newest EPL entrant.

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Five clubs are in danger of the drop: Aston Villa (38 points), Leicester City (37 points), Sunderland (36 points), Newcastle United (36 points) and Hull City (34 points) are the parties playing an unwanted game of musical chairs.

Of this quintet, the most Jekyll and Hyde-like club has been Newcastle.

Villa, Leicester, Sunderland and Hull have all been relative bottom feeders in 2014/15, but the Toon are an enigmatic case.

Starting the season with four points from their first seven matches, then-manager Alan Pardew was the subject of an intensive campaign by supporters to be sacked. In charge at St. James' Park since the 2010/11 season—winning 38 percent of his matches—the year's beginning appeared a final straw in a largely lacklustre tenure.

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Then the Magpies won five straight matches.

Victorious over Leicester, Tottenham Hotspur, Liverpool, West Bromwich Albion and QPR, Pardew's squad rose from 20th position to fifth position in just seven games.

Crisis averted, or so it seemed.

During the Christmas/New Year's schedule, Newcastle again slid down the table. Cries for Pardew's removal became louder, and the former Crystal Palace player grasped at the opportunity to manage his old club when the chance arose 29 December.

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By 2 January Pardew was south London-bound, and Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley turned to previous caretaker manager John Carver. Having 27 points and 19 games left, Carver's job appeared simple: Keep Newcastle United out of the Championship.

Seventeen league games, two wins, four draws and 11 losses later, Carver's appointment has proved far more arduous then when first planned.

Those who campaigned for the removal of Pardew, instead of making Newcastle's situation less convoluted, made the situation worse, or—at the absolute least—contributed to a toxic environment untenable for a better manager.

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Make no mistake, Ashley oversees one of the biggest clubs in football. Newcastle United were the 19th most profitable club on the continent last season. Deloitte, an accountancy firm, suggests the Magpies generated £111.7 million/€155.1 million in revenue during the 2013/14 season.

One hand of that suggests Newcastle are living within their means and making sound business decisions; the other, however, suggests for the 19th richest team in Europe (and seventh most-profitable in England), being in a relegation battle is hardly adequate.

The politics of money/profits aside, Newcastle have two matches (vs. Queens Park Rangers and West Ham United) to salvage their bipolar 2014/15 campaign. Given that an already-relegated team and one thinking more about offseason vacation spots make up their next opponents, the Magpies will have only themselves to blame should they fall into the Championship.

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Thirty-five points after 27 games seemed plenty of time to reach the 40-point plateau all teams in the bottom half set their sights upon. Thirty-six points after 36 games, though, and a team's season is invariably perilous.

Newcastle deserve a winning football club. There is a whole summer ahead to find a capable manager, procure talent and rid themselves of bad apples, but looking anywhere but QPR on May 16 would be a massive mistake for the Toon Army.

Many have clamoured for "interesting," as the season closes; it might not have come in the expected or wanted packaging—but "interesting" has certainly been found at St. James' Park.

Follow @danieltiluk

*Stats via WhoScored.com; transfer fees via Soccerbase.com where not noted.