Few have personally experienced a team talk from Jose Mourinho, but millions of football fans got to peek behind the curtain thanks to Amazon's 'All or Nothing' documentary series during his time in charge of Spurs.
"I feel that honestly you are a very nice group of guys but, for 90 minutes, you cannot be nice," Mourinho told his players in a team meeting ahead of his first game in charge against West Ham in 2019.
"For 90 minutes, you have to be a bunch of c---. F------ intelligent c----. Not stupid c----. B------- in the sense of you are there to win matches.”
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Mourinho and his staff led from the front in that sense. Indeed, when Newcastle first came up against Mourinho's Spurs at St James' Park in July, 2020, Steve Bruce was struck by how the Portuguese's staff were so often up off the bench to contest decisions.
Well, Newcastle now have a permanent presence on the touchline in that respect. If there is a call to be debated, assistant Jason Tindall will make his feelings clear to the fourth official, particularly at home.
Tindall is a constant presence on the touchline alongside Howe and, given the proximity of the dugouts at St James' Park, the number two is often nearest the opposition bench.
That brings its own advantages and it was Tindall who instantly picked up on how Steven Gerrard changed shape when the Aston Villa boss passed on instructions to John McGinn before substitutes Danny Ings and Leon Bailey came on earlier this month.
It is not just on the touchline that Newcastle have become a little cannier and, as Eddie Howe recently said, himself, 'you can't be too nice in this game'.
There was a softness to Newcastle earlier in the campaign - the Magpies threw away a whopping 21 points from winning positions and even failed to beat Southampton last August after taking the lead in the 91st minute - but Howe's side have been more difficult to play against of late.
You only have to look at how Joelinton squared up to Dele Alli in the closing stages of the win against Everton or how Dan Burn merely swatted Jarrod Bowen away after the West Ham forward took issue with a crunching tackle last weekend to realise that Newcastle have toughened up.
Newcastle have consciously worked on game management and being a little more streetwise - Bruno Guimaraes smartly won a free-kick in the dying moments against Villa, for example - and those hours on the training ground are starting to bear fruit.
Newcastle have let in just two goals in their last four games and the Magpies have not conceded in the second half since going into 'protection mode' too early and throwing away a lead against Watford last month.
What has been noticeable since that 1-1 draw against the Hornets is how resilient Newcastle have been after going behind when they previously might have crumbled; how much more comfortable the Magpies have been in possession; and how Howe's side went in search of more goals after taking the lead against Leeds and Everton.
Newcastle have also looked fitter and there was a real contrast to how the black-and-whites flagged on the opening day against West Ham to how they saw the game out in the reverse fixture at the London Stadium on Saturday to claim a valuable point.
In the 75th minute for instance, Newcastle lost the ball deep in West Ham's half and Declan Rice quickly picked out Nikola Vlasic down the left.
Knowing that his team-mates were out of position, Ryan Fraser sprinted after Vlasic and cynically took the substitute down to prevent his side being cut open on the counter.
Fraser picked up a yellow card for his troubles and, strikingly, Newcastle made nearly three times as many fouls as West Ham on Saturday as the Magpies broke the game up and frustrated the Hammers.
The crowd were riled by Fraser once more when he came off just a couple of minutes later. The Scotland international took more than 60 seconds to leave the field as he limped off as part of a wider pattern of Newcastle players taking their time when the ball was dead to eat up some precious seconds.
However, it would be wrong to say Newcastle were merely clinging on at the London Stadium.
Indeed, just a couple of minutes after going down with cramp, Joelinton was leading the press in the 84th minute and forcing Craig Dawson to boot the ball out of play, which earned the Brazilian a round of applause from Howe on the touchline.
West Ham's defence looked a little nervy in the closing stages and although Chris Wood has yet to get off the mark for Newcastle, the striker did quietly make some important contributions late on as he gave the Magpies a focal point.
In the 90th minute, for instance, Wood rose highest to flick on Fabian Schar's searching free-kick and an unsure Dawson headed the ball behind for a corner.
Then, just a couple of minutes later, Wood nicked the ball from Kurt Zouma just inside his own half and Newcastle calmly kept possession for another 46 seconds to take the sting out of the game.
That was an unimaginable prospect not so long ago.
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