While Peter Beardsley and Bob Moncur always tell the fans what they want to hear ... while Bez (and Alan Shearer) tell it the way it REALLY is.
Being top off the league is a nice place to be, but it brings with it its own pressures. You are there to be shot at, and it can get to some players.
Being Toon fans, we have been there and seen it all before, and some fear a 1996-style title capitulation this season . . . but Bez says it isn't a major issue because second place this year will be good enough.
As a veteran of the Magpies’ side which famously blew a 12-point Premiership lead to Manchester United, John Beresford knows the feeling.
John Beresford: “There are obvious similarities between this year’s scenario and what happened to us under Kevin Keegan.
“But there are two major differences this time.
“First, the two clubs challenging Newcastle – West Brom and Nottingham Forest – are not Manchester United.
“Second, finishing runners-up this year will be good enough. OK, you would rather go up as champions, but what really matters is just that you go up.
“Contrast that with ‘96, when second place felt like nowhere. We were just devastated – you could have heard a pin drop in our dressing room on the final day of the season. I’ve never known a feeling like it.
“Then there was the massive added frustration of us not pushing on and putting things right the following year.
“But second place this season is far from nowhere.
“If I was pushed, I’d admit West Brom look to be the best team in the Championship and I would back them to win it.
“But I think Newcastle have got the best squad in the division, they have some home games going up, and I’m sure they’ll also go up.
“We maybe suffered from a little bit of inexperience in ‘96, especially when Man U started putting pressure on us.
“But I don’t see any Cantonas or Schmeichels in this division, so Newcastle will be OK.”