With his future seemingly hanging by a thread, Alan Pardew welcomes the man being being tipped to replace him at Newcastle United to St James' Park on Saturday.
The Magpies manager has come under huge pressure following the 4-0 defeat at Southampton last weekend, which continued their winless start to the season.
Pardew's disciplinary problems and a poor post-Christmas return last season seem to be catching up with him, with bookies fancying him to be the next Premier League manager to leave his position, despite him reportedly maintaining the support of owner Mike Ashley.
Geordie legend Alan Shearer was among those this week to have admitted that the 53-year-old's time may be up, and Newcastle fans are reportedly planning mass protests for the visit of Hull City this weekend.
As many as 30,000 pieces of paper and 100 large banners printed with a 'Pardew Out' message will apparently be distributed around the stadium as the Toon Army prepare to unite against a manager who has overseen just five victories in 2014.
Hull's Newcastle-born boss Steve Bruce has been touted as a potential successor to Pardew after leading the Tigers to an FA Cup final and Premier League safety on their return to the big time last season.
Despite uncertainty over the future of owner Assem Allam, reasonable ambition was shown on transfer deadline day with four signings made to try to take the KC Stadium outfit to the next level.
Two of their new arrivals made goalscoring debuts in the 2-2 draw with West Ham United on Monday, as Mohamed Diame and £10m club-record buy Abel Hernandez became instant fan favourites.
Bruce could name almost the same side that earned them their fifth point of the season, which left them in 10th place in the table, for their trip to a ground where they have won on their last three outings.
Robbie Brady is expected to come into midfield in place of Steven Quinn and while Hatem Ben Arfa is ineligible to face his parent club, another loanee Gaston Ramirez will again be available from the bench.
Pardew may have wanted to make drastic changes following a hammering at St Mary's which sent them to the bottom of the league, but his options are restricted due to a lengthy injury list.
Talented youngster Rolando Aarons will apparently miss six weeks with a hamstring problem and joins Siem de Jong, Davide Santon and Ryan Taylor as players who face significant spells on the sidelines.
Tough-tackling midfielder Cheick Tiote will be welcomed back into the starting XI after returning as a substitute last weekend, and Pardew will hope that he can instill some of the spirit that he says is missing from his side.
Summer signings Emmanuel Riviere and Remy Cabella are still goalless and lacking confidence, but Pardew has little choice but to stick with the French duo, with Papiss Cisse, Facundo Ferreyra and Adam Campbell ruled out.
The home side has not won a league clash between these teams since Hull's second-tier victory in 1991.
Recent form
Newcastle: LDWDL
Hull: DLWDLW
Possible starting lineups
Newcastle: Krul; Janmaat, Coloccini, Williamson, Haidara; Tiote, Colback; Sissoko, Cabella, Gouffran, Riviere
Hull: McGregor; Elmohamady, Dawson, Davies, Robertson; Brady, Livermore, Huddlestone, Diame; Jelavic, Hernandez
Sports Mole says: 2-1
Joe Fish
