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Newcastle yesterday moved to silence speculation that manager Chris Hughton was in danger of being sacked if the club lose Sunday's much-anticipated Tyne-Wear derby at St James' Park, though quite how the ridiculous rumour came to be taken so seriously is in itself shocking.

Admittedly, the current Magpies board have made many strange decisions since taking over in 2007 - and no, we're not just talking about expecting Alan Shearer to save them from relegation - but surely they wouldn't turf out the man who has stuck with them throughout the madness, and on top of that done a fine job.

Having stopped Newcastle from "doing a Leeds" last season and instead guiding them out of the Championship in the most comfortable fashion imaginable, the predicted relegation battlers are sitting pretty in ninth right now, despite an estimated summer net spend of only £4.5 million.

They've had the chance to celebrate victories over Premier League ever-presents Aston Villa and Everton and an away win at West Ham. In fact, London triumphs have actually become semi-regular occurrences under Hughton, having once been incredibly rare and their current drop odds of 6.2 indicate that Betfair punters are confident they will survive.

Of course, their current home winless run of four games in all competitions is a little disappointing, yet hardly a reason for panic given their away form, and they are 2.3 to put that right this weekend by earning north-east bragging rights for the first time in 30 months.

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