It left Sunderland rock-bottom of the Premier League after the disastrous start under Paolo Di Canio, and the best efforts of caretaker boss Kevin Ball.
Today, they sit 14th on 24 points, having completed a derby double over the Magpies and with a Capital One Cup final appearance at Wembley on the horizon.
Gus Poyet: “If you thought that such a revival would happen, you would be thinking that football is too easy.
“It’s not that easy.
“So I’m very pleased.
“It was difficult for me to explain to people that we were a better team in December, because we were not winning.
“I can give you all the explanations I want and explain things, but at the end of the day I am realistic, and it is about winning football games.
“I knew we were getting better, but something was missing.
“We needed to work hard on those things, or use the players in a different way.
“For example, over the last month Adam Johnson has been on another level, and that was a level we were missing.
“That’s something Johnno has given us, that quality in the last third and with the last shot. We were missing that and we couldn’t score from two yards – I remember West Ham and Aston Villa away.
“But now we are coming to places like this (Newcastle), creating chances and deserving to win football games – and we do get the three points, which is great.
“I’m not trying to be too big, but I’m expecting us to get better.
“We have players who are desperate to play and that result will lift them a lot.
“That should help things to get better.
“I am always convinced that if you train in an environment where you have 20 players, and any of those players can play, the session is better.
“The quality gets better because you need to do very well during the week against very good players.
“Then you will put it on the pitch because you know that if you don’t, you will be out.
“The best is still to come.
“I’m not saying we are going to win 3-0 every week, but there is no reason why we cannot perform with this consistency now.
“I am convinced about that.”