IT IS less than a month since Newcastle United travelled to SC Heerenveen’s tidy Abe Lenstra stadium for the first leg of their third-round Uefa Cup tie. After 90 grim minutes against an average Dutch side, Newcastle were fortunate to overturn a one-goal deficit and Lee Bowyer got himself sent off for a deliberate handball that, even by his standards, was unnecessary.

As the teams trudged off, jeers from the travelling faithful suggested a club about to eat itself with frustration. There was even talk that Graeme Souness, appointed as manager only in September, was fighting for his job.

Since then, Newcastle have played five games and won them all. After Thursday’s performance at Olympiakos, a 3-1 advantage and a home leg to come mean they are surely through to the quarter-finals of the Uefa Cup; they have also climbed the Premiership and today face Tottenham in an FA Cup quarter-final at St James’ Park. Call the Gallowgate fickle, but today, should his team fall by the wayside, there will no calls for Souness’s head.

When Sir Bobby Robson was sacked, morale was rock-bottom and discipline askew, but Souness began well, not tasting defeat until his 10th match in charge. A dismal, winless December quashed the nascent optimism.

Kieron Dyer, once the fulcrum of Robson’s team, found his every touch jeered by fans incensed at his refusal to play in the season’s opening fixture at Middlesbrough. The first time Dyer met his new manager properly was in a police station, after the midfielder had been caught urinating in the street. Souness ordered him to knuckle down or get out. In recent weeks Dyer has been the player he used to be. On Thursday he was the epitome of selfless maturity. Then there was Craig Bellamy: a battle of wills that Souness had to win in order to control the dressing room. Bellamy is at Celtic.

Few will cross Souness now, certainly not Laurent Robert. He not only scored against Liverpool last weekend and again on Thursday, but five minutes into the game in Piraeus he could be seen tracking back and tackling. Patrick Kluivert has responded to warnings that insufficient goals would equate to non-renewal of his contract, with his most complete performance in black and white yet. Souness also shored up his central defence and powder-puff central midfield with Jean-Alain Boumsong and Amdy Faye, for a combined £10m. Boumsong was cup-tied on Thursday, but his influence was almost palpable; Titus Bramble played in the unflappable manner of his new mentor.

Newcastle are becoming the team Souness built.

Even though Chelsea’s Carling Cup victory frees another Uefa Cup place next season, re-entry via the Premiership into a competition that has served them so well may be beyond Newcastle. The two cups are a different matter — both Souness’s salvation and his way forward.

The Uefa Cup runs deep in Tyneside folk memory after the heroic victory against Ujpest Dozsa in what was then the Fairs Cup, while an FA Cup victory on the 50th anniversary of their last win would be as appropriate as it is long-awaited. Souness is keeping his cards close to his chest, asserting that Spurs have nothing else to play for, and that Olympiakos remain dangerous. The Gallowgate may not necessarily concur.

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