Flying high in sixth, it is a far cry from 12 months ago when we were mired in a relegation dogfight after a 7-3 hammering by Arsenal which we eventually survived to finish a dismal campaign in 16th.
The 3-0 home defeat to the Mackems was followed by the worst performance in living memory - that 6-0 humiliation to Liverpool.
Then that was followed by the unthinkable appointment of Joe Kinnear in June with the Irishman mocked after a series of gaffes in a radio interview where he mispronounced the names of Newcastle players and officials and took credit for signing some players who didn't know who the hell he was.
Alan Pardew, though, said the current run of results proved things were working well between him and Ashley and Kinnear, though I'd rather praise the players than those two muppets.
The team is doing remarkably well - with or without Kinnear's efforts, but it is very sad when Pardew has to "kiss arse" to beg for funds in the coming transfer window.
Give or take a few coppers, Pardew's three years in charge has seen him bring in £60k in selling players, and spend the same amount. And that in itself is a credit to his management.
In fact he has not been given any funds at all, and rumour has it that trend will continue - we sell to fund incoming players.
Pardew never makes noises, he sits and takes it, and continues to praise Ashley to the hilt.
Alan Pardew: "We're in a good place as a club.
"I know we've had some strange opinions about us from outside but we're working well together.
"The owner is really pleased, I'm really pleased and, more importantly, the players are really pleased because if they are not you can't get those sort of performances.
"That might be an opportunity for us to galvanise ourselves. I haven't really talked too much about the finance available but we've talked about players.
"We're making sure that we don't miss what might be a key signing. You look at the last two January windows, we've done good business.
"We sit down and discuss and make sure we make the right decision for the club. The finance comes into that, of course, but so does selection of what I need.
"With Joe's knowledge of football he knows that the manager needs certain things and that has helped, in my opinion. I don't really want to say any more than that but I think that gives you a little bit of insight."