A glimmer of hope for anxious Magpies

Newcastle are 11 points shy of the magic 40 points mark that has been enough to survive in all but one of the last 13 seasons. To help figure out what chance Alan Shearer has of achieving that total, chickendinner decided to look at how well the last few Magpies bosses have fared in their first eight:

The positive sign is that seven of the eight took at least ten points. However, it’s worth noting that the one exception was the big hearts-over-head appointment heralded as the return of a messiah to St James’ Park.

In a display of faith from the bookies, Newcastle are now 2.3 on Betfair to be relegated, having been 2.12 before rumours of Shearer’s impending appointment started to circulate.