Can we nail once and for all the ridiculous thought held by 'Those Who Know Nought' outside of Tyneside's heartland that devotees of Newcastle United were somehow cruel in their assessment of the last regime.
We were repeatedly told by so-called celebrity punters that we ought to be grateful for Mike Ashley's tight fisted rule because at least the books balanced if they team more certainly did not.
Geordies should be careful what they wished for we were informed amid rather dark undertones.
Equally many seduced by a 'nice guy' image swarmed to the defence of Steve Bruce pointing out that in fact he had worked miracles as opposed to produced stifling, negative football.
However, his comeback record at West Brom has served to kill the presumption that it was only the negative attitude of Newcastle fans that tarnished what he was manfully trying to do.
Bruce sucked the life out of every Geordie's bones while telling all he was one of us.
The other reality of course was that Ashley took Newcastle down twice and made virtually each campaign a perpetual fight against relegation.
Neither have been gone long yet already the fragrant wind of change has wafted down the corridors of SJP.
Eddie Howe has got players we were regularly told could only survive with a mass defence actually playing on the front foot. He has got them fit, which doesn't require a huge influx of cash, has restored confidence and pride, and reawakened players like Joelinton, Jonjo Shelvey, Ryan Fraser, and Fabian Schar whose personal standing was lower than a snake's belly.
Meanwhile Bruce has failed to win a solitary single match all season - he never managed one victory in nine attempts with United (three draws and six defeats) nor has he tasted success in four matches with West Bromwich (a draw and three defeats) a division down in the Championship after being brought in to secure promotion to the Premier League.
Unlucky 13 for somebody? No wins, nine losses.
Amanda, Jamie, and our Saudi owners have done small but significant things on behalf of locals as well as spending their considerable money to thankfully bring us Kieran Trippier, Dan Burn, Bruno Guimaraes, Matt Targett and Chris Wood.
Staveley had sat at every match home and away with a black and white scarf draped round the neck which was something Ashley quickly ditched while welcoming back Wor Flags, ripping down Sports Direct signs, appointing a new manager after sacking the last one plus Lee Charnley, and lining up top executives.
Good PR, communicating with fans, is not something we have been used to these last 14 years.
Ashley knew how to make money all right but not how to win football matches.
Of course it's early doors I can hear the anti-Newcastle clones warn and it is true the mess and mayhem left by Ashley and Bruce is still to be found behind every closed door which means much more work has to be done to make certain another relegation is not their parting gift to the faithful.
However everyone can see progress and everyone has hope which is something we all ran out of in the bad old days.
So it's on to Brentford and hopefully the latest stepping stone to safety.
Pressure is never far away of course. If United rose from the dead with three successive victories then Burnley, stubborn as a mule, have put together a shock 3-0 victory at Brighton with a 1-0 win over Spurs to scatter the pigeons.
However fear ye not my friends. If we can presume that Watford and Norwich are likely to take the drop then the third club could well be Brentford, if Newcastle beat them, or Leeds.
The Marcelo Bielsa factor, so admired for its audacity, has run out of legs and I honestly believe both he and Leeds could be gone by the end of the season.
Leeds' kamikaze attacking has seen them leak 56 goals in just 25 matches, the worst defensive record in the PL. That is a major worry.
And by the way I have not even mentioned Everton as possible victims only because of their home potential to collect points but they cannot be excluded.
When Brentford were last in England's top flight Newcastle were their poor relations.
It was season 1946-47 and the brutal Second World War had just ended in Adolf Hitler's bloody defeat.
Mind you, the life of these two particular football clubs were about to change considerably.
United finished fifth top of League Two in 1947 when Len Shackleton marked a spectacular debut by scoring six times in a 13-0 rout of Newport County.
Down came Brentford never to reach the pinnacle of English football for another 74 years while United won promotion the next season to spark off their run of three FA Cup triumphs at Wembley in five years as the fifties dawned.
Now the two clubs are united again, not in the second tier as 1947-48, but the Premier League though both are needing to see off the threat of a relegation.
Who does it could depend on where the three points end up this decisive day.
