Alan Pardew has a new nickname. Plain old "Pards" no longer seems quite appropriate for a manager responsible for turning a team widely tipped as relegation fodder into Champions League contenders, so these days Newcastle United fans salute "Pardiola".

Remember last summer? When the Tynesiders not only off-loaded Joey Barton, Kevin Nolan and José Enrique but refrained from investing heavily in a replacement for Andy Carroll, the so‑called experts predicted calamity.

Pardew simply kept his own counsel and watched Demba Ba, a free transfer arrival from West Ham, quickly rattle in 16 goals, while Yohan Cabaye, a £4m playmaking recruit from Lille, helped retune Newcastle's game to a more rhythmic, possession-based wavelength.

Once January came, another striker, the £9m Papiss Cissé signed from Freiburg, joined a club where the manager's inspiring coaching and meticulous attention to training-pitch detail have seen previously unsung journeymen, including James Perch, Mike Williamson, Ryan Taylor and Danny Guthrie, hit unforeseen heights.

Naturally there have been odd blips along the way. Only two months ago everybody laughed when Tottenham fans struck up an ironic chorus of "Pardew for England", as their team sent five goals flying into the back of Tim Krul's net. Since then, though, Spurs have won only once in eight league games, Newcastle's notoriously complex France forward Hatem Ben Arfa has hit such a hot streak that he is being likened to Lionel Messi and Cissé cannot seem to stop scoring.

Five successive wins – featuring the concession of only one goal – have placed Newcastle level on points with Tottenham and two ahead of sixth-placed Chelsea. Suddenly, the Europa League no longer represents the pinnacle of this season's ambitions at St James' Park, where the powers that be are breathing private sighs of relief that Tottenham's Harry Redknapp seems the Football Association's nailed-on choice as England's next manager.

While the critics carp about Redknapp's lack of Plan Bs and deployment of substitutes, Pardew's players rave about his tactical articulacy and astute man-management. Some of Ben Arfa's old managers in France found the infamously moody forward, who rarely looked them in the eye, let alone smiled, almost as tricky as Mario Balotelli but, these days, Ben Arfa is in the habit of high-fiving the man finally extracting something near his full potential.

If Pardew has been happy to indulge his No10's desire to reconnect with his north African roots during regular visits to family in Tunis, Ben Arfa is more than repaying such faith by shining on the right of Newcastle's revamped front three from where, on Monday, he scored a contender for goal of the season against Bolton. "It was incredible," Cissé says. "It would be worthy of Lionel Messi himself. Maybe even Messi could not have done that."

Later in the same game, Cissé claimed his 10th goal in nine appearances. "It's fabulous here," the Senegal international enthuses. "It's magnificent. My goals are all down to my team-mates, Shola Ameobi's pass for my latest one was perfect."

Pardew's use of the elder Ameobi as a game-changing substitute is becoming a hallmark of a campaign in which he has tailored his strategies to opposition vulnerabilities. While Norwich were beaten by Newcastle sitting on a slender lead, West Bromwich Albion came undone in the face of winger-propelled counterattacks and Liverpool were thoroughly out-passed and out-moved. "We've got a tactical base," Pardew says. "But from it we can turn to a few different systems."

Equally important is the extraordinary spirit fostered at a club where wages are no longer excessive, individual bonuses have been strictly rationed and French is the first language of several first-teamers. Pardew's feat in fully assimilating an eclectic cross-section of nationalities, cultures and religions is epitomised by his series of national theme events at the training ground. While Jonás Gutiérrez and Fabricio Coloccini enjoyed Argentina day, the curried goat went down a storm during Africa Day.

"Liz, the club chef, did a really great job and cooked a Senegalese dish called Yassa," Cissé says. "It's curried goat and it was fantastic. I loved it. It's another example of how the club has made me feel so welcome and I appreciated it very much. I spoke to Demba Ba before I came here and he told me how good it was. It's been really easy to fit in. Everyone has helped me, especially the manager. It's not difficult to be happy here. I felt at home straightaway."

Not that Cissé is averse to prospective European adventures next season. "It would be fantastic for this club to be in the Champions League, that's my dream," he says. "Everyone's trying to stay calm but we are now so close; it's within touching distance."