Newcastle fans will be hoping the poor form and mediocre effort of their team over the last four league games - three defeats, one draw and no goals scored - will be put right against Sheffield United at Bramall Lane on Saturday.

It is a frustrating time for Geordie fans as the team is doing almost the opposite of what happened last season at this time.

Last season Newcastle finished with six wins and a draw over the last seven games starting on the first Saturday in April - which just so happened to be April Fools day.

Well – Saturday is the first Saturday in April this year - so perhaps miracles are still possible – certainly a winning run is sorely needed so that confidence and pride within the squad can be restored before the end of the season.

While Europe qualification looks extremely difficult – getting in via the back-door (Inter-Toto Cup) may be possible but very doubtful.

Quite honestly the team does not deserve to be in Europe next year.

There is little doubt that the Newcastle squad has many accomplished players – but the problem is that over the last several weeks there hasn’t been the necessary dedication and passion shown by the team.

Indeed if the Newcastle players had half the passion of their fans - we would be much higher up the league right now. But they don’t just have that passion and at least Roeder has promised to rid the club of those who are not prepared to give 100% effort in every game.

That is welcome news - the other good news will be when we get some good players in during the close season. Some of the players being mentioned (Sidwell, Davis, Ferdinand) look good although Anton Ferdinand is a worrisome character to a number of fans.

The recent news that thirty two year old left back Erol Bulut – from Olympiakos - is on a one week trial is disturbing. Isn’t Roeder’s plan to bring in young players whose best years of ahead of them ?

There’s no doubt that bringing in good young players is the more difficult aspect of what Roeder has to do in the summer – because - like it or not - Roeder himself does not have the drawing power of other better known and more successful managers.

We can only hope and pray (as we have got used to over the years) that we can get around five good players in during the summer while getting rid of the likes of Carr, Babayaro, Luque (remember him?) and Bramble.

Maybe that will brighten the mood on Tyneside – certainly a good win at Sheffield will jump-start the process.