WHEN it comes to Newcastle United, things rarely happen in halves. So when the club decided to go in for a spot of re-structuring this summer, it was perhaps inevitable that they wouldn't stop with a lick of paint for the dressing room doors.

First, Sam Allardyce replaced Glenn Roeder after the latter was sacked in the closing stages of last season for failing to guide the Magpies into a European place.

Then, a month or so later, billionaire businessman Mike Ashley completed his multimillion pound buy-out of the club, de-listing it from the Stock Exchange and unceremoniously ending Freddy Shepherd's decade-long tenure as chairman.

And finally, just as the pace of change began to look like slowing, the new regime loosened the purse-strings and funded a £14m spending spree that led to the arrival of seven new players.

New season, new era - but will it still be the same old Newcastle over the course of the next nine months?

On the evidence of Kieron Dyer's muddled move to West Ham - a transfer that will surely be resurrected before the transfer window swings shut - it is tempting to assume that little has changed.

Throw in an injury list that already includes the names of Shay Given, Emre, Damien Duff and Michael Owen and the spectre of last season's failures begins to loom large.

But as the Magpies prepare to kick off the new Premier League season at Bolton tomorrow, there are enough signs of progress to suggest that this could finally be the year when Newcastle embark on a longterm rebuilding project that could eventually see them challenging the top four.

Off the pitch, Allardyce is well on the way to replicating the kind of state-of-the-art backroom set-up that served him so well at Bolton, with masseurs and psychologists mingling with fitness gurus and scouts.

And on it, the Magpies manager is beginning to assemble a squad with the depth and balance needed to compete in the upper half of the table.

While a number of his predecessors have devoted all of their attention to improving Newcastle's attack, Allardyce has signed three defenders to compensate for the departure of Titus Bramble and Craig Moore.

Jose Enrique arrives from Spain with undoubted potential, Cacapa brings the experience of six French titles and a succession of seasons in the Champions League and, on the evidence of his pre-season performances, David Rozehnal has flown in from France with the ability to slot straight into the heart of the back four.

While cover in the full-back positions remains a serious concern, Newcastle should be more defensively secure this season than they have been for a number of years.

With Joey Barton and Geremi having arrived from Manchester City and Chelsea respectively, the club's midfield should also boast added bite despite Scott Parker's exit to West Ham.

James Milner has matured into a winger of genuine Premier League class and, while Dyer's likely departure means that creativity could be at something of a premium, Newcastle have at least rid themselves of the soft underbelly that contributed to countless away defeats last term.

With Owen injured for almost all of the campaign, the Magpies also struggled to score goals last season, a weakness that should not be in evidence anymore.

Mark Viduka is a proven goalscorer at Premier League level, while Alan Smith will provide the kind of bite and enthusiasm that Newcastle have not really possessed since the departure of Craig Bellamy.

Throw in Shola Ameobi and Obafemi Martins, provided he remains on Tyneside, and you have the makings of a more than useful attacking unit. Add Owen to the mix, were he ever to be fit, and you have a strikeforce that would be the envy of most clubs in the land.

If the goals begin to flow, Newcastle are more than capable of claiming a top-seven finish.

If they don't, it is only to be hoped that Allardyce is given time to turn things around. One summer of change is acceptable.

Two on the trot would suggest panic.