Alan Pardew has urged Newcastle United fans to resist the temptation to walk out of St James' Park in the 69th minute of Saturday's game against Cardiff City.

In the wake of the team's run of six straight defeats and dramatic post-Christmas decline, assorted groups of supporters are planning to protest against both Pardew's management and the owner, Mike Ashley's, running of the club. Having initially thought about upping sticks in the 60th minute, they now feel the 69th would be more evocative – it was in 1969 that Newcastle won the Fairs Cup, their last trophy – but the prospect horrifies Pardew.

"I just think the club has to come first sometimes and I think Saturday is an occasion where this has to happen," he said. "The team needs the passion of the fans. It's not about the board or me, it's about 11 players wearing the black and white of Newcastle at 3pm on a Saturday afternoon. You're going to walk away after an hour and leave them to it? I don't think that's right and I really, really hope they don't do that. People don't see the feeling in our dressing room, they don't see that emotion. We're desperate to win for our fans. We know we've let them down."

Whether or not the protest takes place – and many fans are divided about the prospect – almost certainly hinges on the way the Cardiff game unravels. With his position under close scrutiny from Ashley, a victory seems imperative if Pardew is to have any hope of clinging on to his job.

Perhaps ominously – or maybe not – Newcastle's owner has been keeping his distance lately. "I haven't spoken to Mike for two or three weeks," said Pardew. "He owns this club with the confidence to let the manager get on with managing the team. He's always said to me: 'Get on with it.' That's what he expects me to do. He doesn't want me to ring him and say: 'Mike, I'm a little bit perturbed.' He wouldn't see any sign of strength in that and I wouldn't do that.

"He hasn't offered me any reassuring words and I wouldn't expect him to. When I won manager of the month he didn't ring me up and say well done. I didn't expect him to, that isn't his way."

Alan Pardew is under pressure after leading Newcastle to a horrific run of results since Christmas. Photograph: Michael Mayhew/Sportsphoto Ltd/Allstar

It has been a challenging time for Pardew's new life coach – an un-named figure appointed in the wake of his head-butt on Hull City's David Meyler – to begin advising him.

"He's currently lying in a dark room and hasn't come out for a week," said Newcastle's manager. "I think he's surprised by some of the things that cross a manager's path because this isn't his field. But it's been useful to bounce things off him."

The life coach is presumably in full agreement with the decison to dispense with the team's traditional lap of honour – or thanks – which usually takes place immediately after the final home game of each season.

"We talked about that," said Pardew who continues to exclude Hatem Ben Arfa from his first-team squad. "And we decided the one thing we will do is go to the centre circle and clap the fans. A lap of honour is a step too far unless you've actually won something."