THERE ARE CHORES ON the training ground to do, new signings to target, opponents to watch, teams to select and the media to satisfy, but if the task confronting Graeme Souness at Newcastle United could be encapsulated in a single word, “persuasion” would just about cover it. Soaring confidence has long been associated with their senior personnel — from Freddy Shepherd, the chairman, to Kieron Dyer, the midfield player — but, at present, they need reminding of it.

Newcastle are unbeaten in 2005, Jean-Alain Boumsong and Celestine Babayaro have been added to the squad, their transfer kitty is not yet depleted and Alan Shearer and Patrick Kluivert have returned from injury, but they have become a “glass half empty” kind of club. Hints at recovery are viewed with deep suspicion, motives are questioned and trust is scarce.

If Souness was unaware of this when he replaced Sir Bobby Robson as manager, he will not be now and the challenge is a fierce one. His team must be persuaded to reach their potential, and that games last longer than an hour. His chairman, who takes an active role in the acquisition of players, must be persuaded to loosen his grip on the chequebook. Supporters must be persuaded that he is the right man to change a culture of disillusion.

Saturday’s victory over Southampton was representative of this season. During a dominant first half, Newcastle made a stab at brilliance. They were assisted by Shearer’s early penalty — the 400th goal of his career — which was accompanied by the substitution of Antti Niemi, the Southampton goalkeeper, who damaged a knee in a collision with Shola Ameobi.

Newcastle tore forward, with Dyer, Craig Bellamy and Lee Bowyer presented with numerous opportunities to stretch their advantage. Until the 37th minute, when Babayaro’s free kick from the left received a glancing touch from Titus Bramble, they either failed to take them or were thwarted by Paul Smith, Niemi’s replacement, whose saves on his debut were as smart as the clothes designed by his celebrated namesake.

That was enough to threaten brittle belief, but when Kevin Phillips struck the crossbar and Peter Crouch crashed the rebound beyond Shay Given shortly before the interval, they wobbled like John McCririck — a Newcastle fan — in his swimming trunks.

Matters became so bad that Newcastle were in the unique position of feeling gratitude towards Uriah Rennie, the referee, who did not penalise Bramble for kicking out at Crouch, while Steven Taylor, the right back, was obliged to hurl himself at a fierce shot from David Prutton in injury time. It was a funny, familiar sort of game that they should have won comfortably and might easily have lost.

Some big decisions are imminent. Souness has been only a late convert to the attractions of Yakubu Ayegbeni, the Portsmouth forward, but he has led a campaign to bring him to Tyneside, despite Shepherd’s indifference. To the untrained eye, Newcastle would appear overburdened with forwards, yet Souness’s attempts to persuade Shearer to delay his retirement and Kluivert that he is a professional footballer seem to be doomed.

Newcastle stand at another crossroads, unlike Southampton who have amassed four points from a possible 27 and are hurtling towards relegation at a frenetic pace. Harry Redknapp, their manager, described the prospective £2.2 million signing of Nigel Quashie from Portsmouth as a “done deal”, but he cannot afford to be without Phillips, who limped off with a sore ankle, for too long. Redknapp also has some persuading to do.