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Press conferences at Selhurst Park take place in a room which doubles as a cafeteria for the home fans.

It is not the most glamorous of media facilities, but it does the job and Crystal Palace are a friendly club who go out of their way to help you.

Newcastle United were down there just before Christmas and won 3-0 on a horribly dank and dark day.

I remember thinking it would be a shame Palace were going straight back down. They are a great throwback to an almost forgotten pre-Premier League era and we need some more of that.

Yohan Cabaye was brilliant that day. The whole team was.

This was coming towards the end of a run which saw Alan Pardew and his players winning seven, drawing once and losing just one in the league.

To be perfectly honest, Newcastle made Palace look like a Championship side.

As Pardew walked into the cafe, the club press officer declared no questions would be taken from ncjMedia (we asked them anyway) and as I put down my tape recorder Alan and I had a moment.

I said something like: “I think I am allowed to say well done.” He replied: “You will be saying that a lot this season.”

I only got to say it one more time, at West Ham.

Newcastle United are in a mess. That “awful” Palace team could conceivably finish above Newcastle in the league.

How has this happened?

Well, in January, Tony Pulis signed Thomas Ince, Wayne Hennessey, Scott Dann and Joe Ledley and made Jason Puncheon’s loan deal a permanent one.

Two million, no more, sorted all that out.

Newcastle lost Cabaye, as good a United midfielder as anyone since Paul Gascoigne, and signed Luuk de Jong who, with the best will in the world, has been a total flop. Palace are now 11th and three points (just one win) behind Newcastle. Stoke are tenth and two points behind United.

If Newcastle cannot find a win from trips to Arsenal and Liverpool plus a final home match against Cardiff City – who have found a bit of form – then it is hard to see them finishing in the top ten.

Palace will win at least one more the way they are playing and Stoke are also playing good stuff.

Oh, and in January, Mark Hughes was allowed to sign Stephen Ireland on a permanent deal and brought in John Guidetti and Peter Odemwingie.

Funnily enough, teams who strengthen during a transfer window tend to improve compared to those who sell their best player and do not replace him. The knives are out for Pardew right now – but this is not just his fault.

He has not been backed and when the whole philosophy of the club is a top-ten finish is fine and do not try in the cups, is it any wonder the players have gone?

They have.

There was an inevitability about Swansea’s winner on Saturday. Marvin Emnes, who is no Cristiano Ronaldo, was allowed to run at the Newcastle defence without having to ride a challenge until Cheick Tiote tripped him.

If the players have not given up then they are doing a fine impersonation of a team who have done just that. Guys such as Mike Williamson and Tiote cannot be blamed for these poor performances. They can look at themselves in the mirror.

Yet when you see Vurnon Anita at right-back and Papiss Cisse on the right wing, where they began at the weekend, you wonder what in the name of all that is good is going on.

Newcastle fans, at least some, now want to see their team lose so they finish in the bottom half – thus denying the players any bonus.

Some supporters want their team to lose. That night at Selhurst Park seems a lifetime ago.