AMID the euphoria around St James' Park following Newcastle United's never-say-die draw with Tottenham yesterday, Alan Pardew warned the Premier League's other Champions League chasers to expect a rough ride from the team from Tyneside.
The Magpies retained their grip on fourth place last night by coming from behind twice to claim a deserved point against sixth-placed Tottenham.
It was a performance full of character and flashes of quality, highlighting why Newcastle are still unbeaten this season - a run which is their best since 1994.
Many might not have expected Newcastle to have started so strongly after a summer in which they failed to land a striker deemed capable of filling the No 9 shirt vacated by Andy Carroll last summer.
But, against a Spurs side full of international class, Newcastle showed Pardew again just what sort of team he is in the process of assembling at St James' Park.
"What it told me is that we've got a team who have come here via a different kind of route to Tottenham," he said. "They've got world-class players brought in on big salaries and fees; we've got a team from all parts of the world, from the Championship, so it's a good advert for players who have not gone the obvious route.
"They've had to fight. A few of our players are fighting for their careers, fighting to develop, fighting to be top players and that makes us dangerous.
"I think we're going to be a dangerous side against the top sides as well as everybody else."
The result and performance was the ideal way to end a day in which Newcastle issued a mission statement in their match-day programme reminding fans of their intention to go about success in a sensible financial fashion.
"I'm proud of the players and the staff because this has taken a lot of hard work - and from the owners too," said Pardew.
"They've taken a lot of criticism at this club and sometimes things take time.
"What we have in place is a sound financial structure, we go forward and hope to achieve one of those seasons where people say we were one of those surprise teams and provided some entertainment here and there. We did today.
"I think we deserved something and it was important for the stadium and the fans that we got something. They could have gone away and thought ‘well, perhaps we are a bit short'. But maybe we ain't short. Maybe we'll surprise everybody, maybe we'll surprise ourselves."
Newcastle's managing director Derek Llambias revealed in the statement that the club is on course to break even during the current financial year.
He said: "In 2008-9, we reported an operating loss before player trading of £37.7m. In 2009-10, that loss was £35.5m. Once audited, our accounts for 2010-11 are expected to show an operating loss of just £4.7m and this year, we hope we will be close to breaking even.
"We are pleased that the club is working towards being able to operate within the boundaries of UEFA's financial fair play rules even during these challenging economic times."
Throw in the sales of Carroll, Jose Enrique and Kevin Nolan and Newcastle are in profit, which is why Pardew is expecting to bring in further new players in January.
But even though owner Mike Ashley is working towards a top half finish, Pardew is starting to think even higher after goals from Demba Ba and Shola Ameobi cancelled out Rafael van der Vaart and Jermain Defoe goals yesterday.
"We haven't looked at targets, beyond the short-term," said Pardew. "If we win at Wigan we'll have 19 points and that'll almost be halfway towards safety, which is some achievement. Once you clear those barriers you can start to look at other things."
He added: "I'm hoping the owners start to get a little bit more respect. I don't think we'll ever win everybody over for Mike and Derek and maybe even myself, but at least you, maybe, can logically look at it and say that ‘we're better off than most clubs from a financial position'."
Spurs boss Harry Redknapp, who came close to taking the Newcastle job in 2008, is already thinking Newcastle could be in the upper echelons of the Premier League for a while longer.
He said: "Newcastle are a good side. Their left winger (Jonas Gutierrez) has got better since arriving here. If Newcastle got into the top four Alan Pardew should be manager of the year."
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