Newcastle boss Alan Pardew is hoping the 700th game of his managerial career will help him to emerge from some of the darkest days he has endured in the game.
The 53-year-old will send his side out against Leicester at St James' Park on Saturday knowing a failure to win at the eighth attempt this season will set an unwanted new Magpies record and increase the pressure on him from outside, if not necessarily inside, the club.
Pardew said: "I have managed at three of the levels, and they have all presented different challenges, which I have enjoyed.
"As a manager, you have real ups and downs - there is euphoria and some real dark days, which I've had recently here.
"You have to try to show a consistency in what you do. It's not really a time for reflection for me this week because Leicester is so important for this football club. All I'm focussed on is getting the win we need for this city and the club."
Newcastle have collected only four points from their opening seven Barclays Premier League games and have had to come from behind to claim the last two of them, having trailed to both Hull and Swansea.
Pardew freely admits a team which underwent significant change during the summer is misfiring.
It is a challenge which he must accomplish soon if owner Mike Ashley is to continue to resist demands from sections of the club's support to dispense with the manager - and the word from inside St James' once again this week is that his job remains safe whatever happens on Saturday - and add to his tally of games.
Pardew said: "You have to try to improve. At the moment, the team is struggling. I need to use all of my resources to try to improve it."
Pardew will at least have keeper Tim Krul fit after an injury scare, while Daryl Janmaat and Paul Dummett are also expected to be available.
Ivory Coast midfielder Cheick Tiote and Senegal striker Papiss Cisse were due back from international duty in Africa late on Thursday evening with Pardew revealing the club will monitor them amid concerns over the ongoing Ebola crisis.
He said: "We would be naive not have concerns. We have a strategy for when they return and making sure they and their families are taken care of.
"They are essential to us and our doctor has looked into the problems that might arise and also protection for them, and to make sure we do our very best to help them."
Leicester manager Nigel Pearson returns to Newcastle aware of the pressure and expectation on the shoulders of Alan Pardew.
Pearson knows all too well the demands that come with running a club such as the Magpies as he spent 16 months on Tyneside and worked for three different managers.
During his short tenure that started in October 2006, which included spells as assistant manager, first-team coach and two week-long runs as caretaker boss, Pearson saw Glenn Roeder and Sam Allardyce sacked.
Pearson then spent a week working under Kevin Keegan prior to his own release in early February 2008 and joining Southampton.
More than six years on and Pearson now takes Leicester to the north-east where Pardew is under enormous pressure.
"I've still a lot of very good memories from my time there, although being caretaker was not a good experience because I was replacing someone I had worked with," recalled Pearson.
"The initial appointment came out of the blue. I had just left West Brom as Bryan Robson had gone and I did not expect to be in work so quickly.
"But it was a great experience for me. It's a big club and there were a lot of good things about it.
"It was unfortunate, probably because of the expectation and a few other circumstances, that as first-team coach there I worked for three managers.
"It shows you the volatile nature of football and the expectations that go with big clubs.
"It's the nature of football that sometimes the expectation can be used as the opportunity to make changes, but change is not always the best thing.
"Sometimes if you make an appointment and you think the person is the right person when you bring them in, it's then about having the right amount of time and support to get the job done.
"I've had times here (at Leicester) when it has not been easy for either myself, the staff or the players, so I understand what it is like to work under those sorts of pressures.
"When it becomes personal it's never nice."
Pearson has virtually a full squad to choose from, with only defenders Matt Upson (foot) and Zoumana Bakayogo (anterior cruciate) sidelined.
Source: PA
