Newcastle United manager Alan Pardew has silenced critics to sell vision of 'fast brand of front-foot football' This game is the little matter of the North East derby at home to Sunderland on Sunday. "It's good for the area," he says of the resurgence of both clubs. They are probably looking at our results and we are looking at theirs but it's not about Newcastle finishing above Sunderland. For me, it's about finishing higher than we did last year, to progress and have a great season. There is admiration for his opposing manager. "He's done an unbelievable job," Pardew says of Martin O'Neill. I saw him a couple of times in a social environment before he went to Sunderland and I thought he looked ready to return. Taking the job has inspired him. Pardew, also, feels inspired having sold his "vision" to Newcastle owner Mike Ashley even if he knew he wouldn't immediately be accepted. "In today's age, as a manager, you have to be very single-minded, you have to be strong mentally to cope with some of the criticism, the personal criticism that comes your way - and it has become too personal," he says. I didn't fear the job. But I didn't know what I'd find. Pardew shrewdly brought in as his assistant John Carver the man who stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Sir Bobby Robson when he was Newcastle manager, and while the Geordie coach is among those who gently tease him about putting an "r" in Newcastle, he has benefitted from that local knowledge. "He gives me the psyche of the fan," Pardew says. He's generally grumpy about something, he will always come in and have a gripe, in a nice way. There has been less and less to gripe about since Pardew's succeeded Chris Hughton. The appointment was widely criticized but Pardew was confident in his ability and knew what he wanted. "I had a good record, good experience, I worked well with young players - and I want to win something," Pardew, now 50, explains. I don't want to finish ninth in the Premier League. There will be a season, somewhere down the line, when ninth will be "thank god for that." That season will come - a run of injuries, it's not working, you get sucked into a war down the bottom and the middle of the table will seem like a haven. But, for this football club, that shouldn't be success. We should strive for better than that and we play in front of 52,000 fans, that will always attract players, we have to use that to our advantage. If I was a player, I'd like to play in our team. The most important thing is to have a team that looks like it's going forward and we have that. To achieve success, Newcastle adopted a very clear "model." "We need to buy players who are going to have value, we don't buy 31-year-olds," Pardew explains. Those players are not on our agenda at all. Newcastle have made mistakes in the past in doing that and we won't do it again. It means the club concentrates hard to attract young talent - the work of chief scout Graham Carr has rightly been acknowledged - and Pardew highlights, in particular, the success of Yohan Cabaye, acquired from Lille last summer for an undisclosed fee, thought to be £4 million, on a five-year deal and now someone who will "be a big player for France in the Euros." "It was a no-brainer," Pardew says of signing the 26-year-old international midfielder. He'd won the double [in France) and not only that but he was the creative force. Zinedine Zidane gave a quote once when he said what made him special was that he never thought about his first touch because he knew he would control it. Cabaye is a bit like that. We have got big players now. Demba Ba feels like he's a big player, Fabricio Coloccini does, Tim Krul does. Now we are looking at the core of a team - Cheick Tioté, Cabaye, Papiss Cissé - and you are saying "on a given day, that team's got a chance against anybody."" There is excitement - but also professionalism, partly born of experience, and a clear discipline. "This is only our second season [back in the Premier League]," Pardew says. In my second year at West Ham in 2006-07, I got sacked. I think a few players thought they'd cracked it. Last summer I was conscious of that, the second season, and I made a decision that I was going to change a few players and stir it up. "So we've not had the "second season syndrome." We also have some good standards here and I'd like to think my players are not creating waves off the pitch the way they used to. There were too many stories. There has also been a change of style on the pitch. "We are more in control of games," Pardew says. Last year we had nous and experience, this year we have looked the dominant force at times. Man Utd was the pinnacle of that. That 3-0 victory, in January, was a raucous affirmation of what he is trying to achieve. A special night at the Sports Direct Arena. "Teams are going to be intimidated when they come here," Pardew adds. This is a big club. We are focused on players who can deal with that. There's a next phase, of getting a way of playing right through the club, to give us an underbelly to the first-team. It's what we are trying to do now. That's also a lot of the unseen work, and a lot of investment. This is being achieved with the support of Ashley, who is, perhaps, more committed than he ever has been. "Speaking to Mike he feels he will be the owner for a long time and that's why I wanted a long [5½-year] contract," Pardew says. This is his football club and he's taking a longer-term view now. It's hurt him, this club, he couldn't understand how it [football] works - the agents, the salaries, the industry. Compared to the (retail) industry he is in and is the main man and knows exactly how it works. I know for a fact he can tell you the price of something on his shelves to the penny. That's how thorough he is. But you can be thorough in this game and get it all wrong if you have bad selection, advice and that's what he's trying to cover. He trusts managing director Derek Llambias to run the club, Graham Carr as chief scout, me as manager. Now he is feeling a lot better about the football club. He now understands the game. When we negotiate with clubs and players we are pretty tough and you need to be in this financial climate - as Rangers and Portsmouth have shown. The model we have got is a good model for these times. But there has been aggravation with the supporters - not least over the highly-charged issue of re-naming St James's Park to the Sports Direct Arena after the company Ashley owns. "He does what he feels is right, it's not a conscious decision to upset the fans," Pardew argues. He's quite bullish, of course, and people don't like change and changing the name of the stadium, it's about raising revenue. It's still St James" Park to the fans and will stay that way. There are sound economic reasons [for name change]. We have to move with that otherwise we won't be able to keep our players. For me, it's difficult. I want to represent the fans, that's what I do as manager, and I want to also say to the owner "I want the best possible team" which is what he wants also." A test will come quickly this summer. Will Ba stay? Will Tioté? Cabaye? "If I can keep the same group of players I wouldn't worry [about raising expectations]," Pardew adds. But will I be able to keep my best team? We are vulnerable to bigger clubs and you can't get away from that with the salaries they offer. There is the example of Liverpool who signed Andy Carroll for £35 million in January 2011 and who, Pardew says, have "double" Newcastle's revenues. And yet when he looks at the league table this morning Liverpool are, of course, below Newcastle. Will it stay that way? Can Newcastle even qualify for European football? "We are not focused on that," Pardew says. But there is a crucial addendum. We are focused on the next six games because if we are in the running for a top six place in six games times then we will really give it a go - whether that's the Europa League or even the Champions League. But the next six games are key. Now is the time when the top teams get into gear, so are we going to get into gear? Starting on Sunday, starting against Sunderland.