GIVEN everything that has happened in the last two or three seasons, it seems strange to talk of Newcastle United being on the brink of another crisis while they are sitting in second place in the table.

Enough has gone right in the wake of last season’s relegation for Chris Hughton to be on the verge of signing a contract as the club’s next permanent manager, yet much of the optimism that accompanied the opening two months of the season is beginning to fade.

Four games without a victory have punctured the feelgood factor and led to renewed fears over the course the club is plotting under the continued control of unpopular owner Mike Ashley.

Fail to beat unfashionable Doncaster Rovers at St James’ Park this afternoon, and the current blip will have become something more serious. And having been a Newcastle player for almost nine months, Kevin Nolan knows exactly what that would mean.

“I accept that if we don’t beat Doncaster at home, then even some of our own fans might be describing the situation as a crisis,” said the midfielder, who is Newcastle’s leading scorer this season with six Championship goals.

“That is down to their expectation, and there is nothing wrong with having expectations.

“The fans should have high expectations, especially in this league with the quality we have in this squad. We should not be losing three games on the run at Championship level anyway.

“It is also an expectation we put on ourselves, and if it (a defeat) does happen on Saturday, then no one will be more disappointed than the 11 lads that leave the field in Newcastle shirts.”

Today’s game is likely to be Hughton’s last as a caretaker boss. The former Tottenham assistant has held a number of discussions with Ashley this week that have resulted in an agreement over the make-up of a contract that will finally see him appointed as the longterm successor to the hapless Joe Kinnear.

In conjunction with his assistant, Colin Calderwood, Hughton has overseen a spirited response to last season’s relegation despite the departure of a host of senior players during the summer transfer window.

The senior players, like Nolan, who remain, have assumed an increased important in terms of the club’s dayto- day affairs, and the former Bolton midfielder insists Hughton is the right man for the manager’s job.

“With the job he has done since the beginning of the season, he deserves what he is going to be given,” said Nolan.

“I don’t know whether it’s going to be a long-term deal or just a short-term one for the season, but I think he deserves a crack at getting us back into the Premier League.

“Chris has our trust because both him and Colin have been absolutely brilliant with us. I’m going to call them the ‘Gruesome twosome’.

They have it sussed and I was really impressed with them from the word go in pre-season training.

“They put together an excellent training programme, and although it was a pre-season training camp and we put in lots of work, it was really relaxing as well.

“It was nice to go into training every day, and everyone wanted to work for themselves and for each other.

They made it like that. They built the bond between us and the staff, and they created the us-against-the-world mentality that still exists.”

That mentality also reflects the fact that Newcastle are operating with one of the smallest squads in the Championship.

While Fabricio Coloccini is expected to return today, Steven Taylor, Joey Barton and Shola Ameobi remain absent as the Magpies look to record their first home win since September 19.

Nolan claims that the squad is too small to support a promotion push over a 46-game season, and recent events would appear to suggest that his concerns are justified.

“I think we could do with a few players in,” he said. “But I think that Mike has been fair. He has spent a lot of money since he came to the club, and he has brought in a lot of players this season, even though he knew he might be leaving or selling the club.

“In an ideal world, we would all like to see two or three more faces, but it doesn’t look as though that is going to happen.

“If we get that, I am sure there will be no qualms about us getting automatic promotion.

I firmly believe that.

“In my eyes, we are still going to do it, but sometimes we need a bit of help.”