Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino sympathises with under-pressure John Carver, even though his Newcastle counterpart knew exactly what he was letting himself in for.
A number of fans will boycott the Magpies' match against Spurs on Sunday in a show of defiance against owner Mike Ashley as another disappointing season comes to a close.
The protest may well hinder United's chances of a first Premier League win since February, which will no doubt ratchet up the pressure on Carver.
Handed the reins until the end of the season following Alan Pardew's departure, the Geordie has not had the easiest of rides -- something Pochettino sympathises with, to an extent at least.
"In your career, sometimes maybe you are up and sometimes you are down," the Spurs boss said. "We know the stress.
"You suffer a lot when things are not good, so for that reason I care a lot about my colleague.
"I think we understand that when you put your face in front on the touchline and you are a head coach or a manager, you are responsible.
"If you want to keep your place, you need to stay behind [the scenes]. The manager, the head coach, needs to be brave because it is not an easy job.
"When the good things happen, sometimes it is good to hear 'good job,' 'good manager,' 'good man.'
"When the problems arrive, it is difficult to be in a good mood like me today. But it is important to be brave and to be calm and to be clever because you need to understand this is football."
Hugo Lloris and Kyle Walker are among several Spurs doubts for the trip to St James' Park, where Pochettino's men will look to get back to winning ways after a disappointing few weeks.
A goalless draw at Burnley was followed by defeat at White Hart Lane to Tim Sherwood's Aston Villa, but the Spurs boss insists his players' are not already thinking of their summer holidays.
"When you lose it is an easy explanation," Pochettino said. "In football we use a lot of those but it's not true.
"When you lose we need to be serious and analyse why. But it is difficult to explain sometimes why.
"It is true that different things happen during the season, we are up or down. But it is true that the last two games were not good. We need to improve."