Former Newcastle owner Sir John Hall has branded the club's relegated squad "rubbish" and "useless".
Hall oversaw the Magpies' rise to become a force in the top flight before selling his shares in the club to Mike Ashley in 2007. And, following Sunday's defeat by Aston Villa - a result that ensured Championship football next year, he admits his devastation at how United's fortunes have flagged since then.
"The table doesn't lie," Hall told The Sun. "It's been desperately poor all season and the worst thing is they didn't even appear to try on Sunday. I'm not going to pull any punches. This current side is rubbish. Useless."
Hall also savaged the club's policy in the transfer market in recent seasons.
"I'm as baffled as anyone with the signings of players like Joey Barton. Then again, (former manager) Sam Allardyce said he could put him right," he said.
"As for Michael Owen, he's had too many injuries and he's never seemed to be on the ball.
"Now we are saddled with a huge wage bill. The lesson here is obvious: you can't take on yesterday's men and hope to survive. That's for a club with no ambition."
Caretaker coach Alan Shearer's future remains unresolved but Hall has joined Newcastle's fans in appealing for the former captain to help the club back up at the first attempt.
"Shearer must stay," he added.
"He doesn't have experience but then neither did Kevin Keegan the first time round. But, like Keegan, the fans have faith in him. The club is in his blood and he is a rallying point for all the supporters."
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We will Come back up next season, As long as Shearer (or whoever is in charge) is allowed the freedem to buy who ever he likes, and if they know the club stand a good chance of moving back to the prem' will sign for a Champonship side.
i honestly agree with Englishman above, we played great under Sir Bobby (bless him) and better than sunday under that ex-west ham manager too... The blame lies Squarely with the miss-management, who sanctioned selling off the Best players and buying in Rubbish...
come on, who in their right mind would sell off ,Robert (moments of Class) Bellamy (pace we could have done with sunday) and Lua-lua... it started the rot then...
The supporters must take their share of the blame for relegation. Would this have happened had Keegan been in charge all season? Answer almost certainly .. NO. Kev is one of the few managers who could have squeezed a few more points out of the very poor team and could then have planned properly for a Premiership season. There was initial support for Keegan from the fans and Ashley and Wise, etc were on the ropes. Indeed, Ashley was said to be selling the club and as a result, the fans protest withered. Kinnear got a couple of draws and suddenly all is forgiven. Ashley is even back watching the team which he was not doing at the height of the protest and there is no more talk about selling. The London connection continues to thrive and it is sad that the supporters did not see their protest through to its intended result - the retention of Keegan. Surely the club was worth a bit more sacrifice - a few more games missed in protest might have got Kevin back. After all, Wise was not an essential part of the club as evidenced by his quick departure when Shearer arrived. Its all in the past now ... but in retrospect, the season was lost way back at the beginning by Keegan going instead of Ashley and Wise.
Well Newcastle were poor at the start of the season nevermind the finish!
What is done is done. Now look to the future and get back in the premier league.
We all know this season has been the worst. I am sure once the dead wood has been removed we will get some players who want to play in front of 50.000 fans.
It all started to go wrong when Sir Bobby was sacked.
alan shearer and ian dowie. i just love it!!!
SJH is stating the obvious here!
He is spot on when he says it looked as if they weren't even trying on Sunday; they disgrace and shame the word 'professional'. Who, in their right minds, is gonna want to buy any of this dross? Take collicinni for example, £11 million and on 70k a week - no chance of unloading him! Ameobi, just signed a new lucrative 3 year deal, and as he has shown before, he is in no hurry to leave and will gladly see out the next 3 years on the bench. Barton, we couldn't even give him away! Butt, past it and only a free, but who will pay him £50/60k per week; Smith, we may get a million if we're lucky. Geremi, who's gonna take him? It goes on and on and on. At least owen is out of contract, so there's one big earner off the payroll. However, they are all on massive wages, and as they have shown all season, these are not honourable men here; they will happily bleed his club dry, they have no pride in their work. Oh for the likes of Rob Lee and Peter Beaerdsley . . . 'true' professionals in every essence of the word.
Al get them out and get proper footballers in, no prima-donna, no big name, fancy Dans, no players living on past reputations; just get a bunch of proud, hard working grafters in WHO WANT TO PLAY FOR NUFC, lads who will take pride in walking out at SJP and give their all for the club.
Surely at some point during the season someone within the club has said to Mike Ashley "Mike this is shyte". Shearer got rid of Wise or he would still be in Benidorm looking for new players for next season.
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