ON first examination, it would appear that Gwyneth Paltrow has precious little in common with the North-East’s two biggest football clubs.  However, 18 years after the Hollywood actress shot to stardom by appearing in the film of the same name, both Newcastle United and Sunderland are about to have their own ‘Sliding Doors’ moment.

The next six weeks will go one of two ways. For both clubs, it is no exaggeration to claim that the outcome of the next eight matches will go a long way towards shaping what happens for at least the next decade.

If either goes down, it is hard to see them coming back quickly. Newcastle returned at the first time of asking six years ago, but that was a very different side and a very different set of circumstances.

Whereas Chris Hughton’s Championship winners boasted a dependable core willing to dig into the trenches in the second tier – think Steve Harper, Danny Simpson, Kevin Nolan, Joey Barton and Andy Carroll – it is hard to imagine too many of the current team acclimatising to life outside the Premier League with the same sense of duty.

Similarly, it is hard to see Mike Ashley tolerating the same level of losses he sustained in the wake of 2009’s relegation given his recent admission that the “bank account is empty”. And even if he did, the Championship is an even more competitive division nowadays, with clubs like Burnley and Middlesbrough thinking nothing of spending £8-10m on a new centre-forward.

Sunderland, with relegation clauses written into the contracts of a number of their players and staff, would be in a more financially stable position if the worst was to happen, but there would still be a fire sale and there is no guarantee that Sam Allardyce would remain in position to oversee a rebuilding job in the Championship.

Stadium of Light sources played down speculation earlier in the week suggesting Ellis Short might look to sell the club in the summer, but the owner’s interest appears to be waning and relegation could prove the final straw. Hardly an ideal environment in which to start sifting through the wreckage.

At this juncture, it is probably worth pointing out that neither club could complain if they were to be relegated. They have been poor all season and are undoubtedly two of the worst four teams in the division along with Norwich City and Aston Villa. They both flirted with relegation last season, and in the case of Sunderland in particular, have spent most of the last four or five years battling against the drop. If you repeatedly play with fire, eventually you’re going to get burned.

Yet for all that that is true, the importance of the next six weeks is accentuated by the light that is perceptible at the end of the tunnel. The greatest irony of the current situation is that after years of stagnation and mismanagement, both Newcastle and Sunderland are in danger of being relegated just as they appear to be getting their respective houses into order.

The shift is most marked at Newcastle, where the appointment of Rafael Benitez has been accompanied by a belated recognition that the club’s previous managerial and boardroom structure was flawed.

The Northern Echo:

Lee Charnley appears to have accepted there should be limitations to his role as managing director, and while Graham Carr will continue to have an influence no matter what happens in the final eight games of the season, Newcastle’s recruitment policy will be markedly different if they are preparing for another Premier League campaign this summer.

Benitez will be allowed to be a ‘manager’ in the old-fashioned sense of the word. He will identify targets and take the lead on contract renewals and sales, just as he has already been granted the autonomy to assemble his own backroom staff and prepare the groundwork for an overhaul of the club’s academy system.

In the 55-year-old Spaniard, the Magpies finally boast a manager of world renown. Speak to any of the players or staff who have worked with Benitez in the last month or so, and they will all extol his qualities both as a coach and man manager.

Listen to him talk about his long-term plans for the club, especially his theory that “two or three” crucial changes could result in a radical reversal of fortunes, and it is clear that he has already identified key areas of concern. Given time and resources, which would surely be forthcoming if survival was secured despite Ashley’s recent gloomy prognosis, it is not hard to imagine a Benitez-led Newcastle quickly reclaiming a place as at least a stable mid-table side.

The same is broadly true of Allardyce at Sunderland. For all that the 61-year-old has been unable to engineer a major improvement since taking over in October, it is undeniable that the current Black Cats side is better than the one that was imploding under Dick Advocaat.

The Northern Echo:

Significantly, the biggest improvement has occurred since January, when Allardyce was able to recruit four of his own players. Dame N’Doye is yet to make much of an impact, but Lamine Kone, Jan Kirchhoff and Wahbi Khazri have consistently been three of Sunderland’s best performers since moving to Wearside a couple of months ago.

That highlights Allardyce’s ongoing ability to work wonders in the transfer market, and it is hard to avoid wondering what position Sunderland might have been in had the current boss been in place throughout last summer as well. Another three or four signings like the January ones, and the Wearsiders might well be safe.

That is hypothetical of course, but Allardyce will be back in the market if Sunderland survive and it does not require too much of a leap of faith to imagine him moulding an athletic, well-organised and obdurate side capable of finishing well clear of the drop zone.

Money will be available if relegation is avoided – largely thanks to next season’s lucrative new television deal – and Sunderland’s previous executive structure based around a sporting director or director of football has been dismantled. Margaret Byrne’s recent departure creates an opportunity for a greater degree of footballing knowledge at the head of the organisation.

For both Newcastle and Sunderland, the future could be bright. But that brings us back to Paltrow and the ‘Sliding Doors’ moment of whether or not she gets onto her train. One path leads one way; the other results in a markedly different existence. With eight games to go, which is it to be?