Pardew stepped into the home dug-out at St James' Park for the first time on December 11 last year with the club once again in turmoil in the wake of Chris Hughton's controversial dismissal. The fans were in open revolt after Hughton, the man who had guided the Magpies back to the Premier League, was summarily dispatched with his side making a fist of life in the top flight and replaced by, in the eyes of the most disgruntled locals at least, a new member of the so-called 'Cockney Mafia' in control of the club. However, the players Pardew had inherited did him proud as they secured a 3-1 victory, and despite a transfer policy which has since seen four of the men who started that day - Andy Carroll, Jose Enrique, Kevin Nolan and Joey Barton - all leave, the curve has been largely upward ever since. Pardew said: "The biggest progress we have is stability at the football club because the results and the way we have conducted ourselves here at the training ground have suggested that hopefully we can have a period where the manager stays in place and we can build the team. "We have brought young players to the club - Davide Santon, Haris Vuckic, Hatem Ben Arfa, people like that, young players who we can build on." Similar progress may have been made regardless of what happened that day, but Pardew is in little doubt as to how important that result was in terms of his reign. He said: "That first game was a daunting game because in terms of how I came to the football club, it was important I won it. "It will always be right at the top of my list of the most important wins at this football club until such time as we get near the big prizes. But we are not there yet." Friday night's game will take place at Anfield, and just as he did in his first match at the helm, Pardew will go into it with a striker in form and causing people to sit up and take notice. Last year, it was Carroll who marked his rapid development with a superb long-range strike to seal victory with his 10th goal of the campaign. This time around, Carroll will be wearing the red of Liverpool having secured a £35million move just weeks later, and desperately searching for a foothold at his new club as criticism of his contribution to date mounts. By contrast, the man who has assumed his mantle in the black and white stripes of Newcastle, free signing Demba Ba, has been a revelation, scoring his 14th goal of the campaign in the 2-0 Boxing Day victory at Bolton which ended a six-game wait for a league win. Pardew, who is bracing himself for the Senegal international's departure on African Nations Cup duty next month, said: "He's just one of those players who has everything, really, as a striker. "There's not much to his game that he hasn't got, and that stands you in good stead. "When any chance comes your way, you are going to have a good armoury to get a goal." Ba has overcome a knee problem to make himself available, as has Santon, the young Italian who was signed from Inter Milan during the summer as a long-term replacement for Jose Enrique when he too swapped Tyneside for Merseyside. The Spaniard, whose contract was running down, cost Liverpool only £5million, and Pardew always knew that would prove a bargain. He said: "He has been brilliant. He has been their best player, and it doesn't surprise me. We were really disappointed to lose him."
