Relegation day

Tears and cheers

You would have needed a very thick skin not to have been moved by the tears at St James Park as Newcastle lost their Premiership relegation battle.

One point was all the Geordies needed to survive but, once again, fate stepped in to change their history.Seeing the anguish on the faces of supporters as the final whistle blew tugged at the heart-strings. Chaps like these probably never even cry at their child’s school play or at their daughter’s wedding but then football is a very different kettle of fish.

Caretaker manager Alan Shearer remains a hero, of course, and there were immediate calls for him to stay on, take the team by the scruff of its neck and head the Championship table next season.

Let’s face it, it’s going to take an awful lot of work. There was so much talk on relegation day about why such a great team like Newcastle have under-achieved and why they were unable to stay up. Shearer summed it up simply. They were just not good enough.

Shearer’s sensible talk is one of the reasons why he has endeared himself to the nation. No back-sniping. No whinges. No bitching.Shearer always had faith that Alex Ferguson would put out a Manchester United squad which could beat Hull. He did and they did. But that defeat was no good unless Newcastle achieved at least a point against Aston Villa.

How cruel is fate. Damian Duff could have put Newcastle ahead and in the driving seat within the first ten minutes. Instead, as Villa took a strike on goal, the ball took a cruel deflection off Duff whose name went down on the own goal list.

Every script-writer in the land was praying for Michael Owen to come on and score the winner in injury time. It was not to be. Owen hardly had a touch of the ball and looked a pale shadow of his former self. There was only one person who could have come on and saved the game and that would have been Shearer himself. As a player, he never ever gave up, always leading from the front, always going for every ball and never giving up until that last whistle blew.

Of course, it was probably an impossible task for Shearer to save Newcastle, having been brought in with just eight games to go. The damage had already been done with a succession of managers and a team which just didn’t know which way it was going.

Sadly, that direction is down but at least Newcastle can make their mark on the Championship and surely must be promotion contenders even at this stage.Sunderland meanwhile were celebrating staying in the Premiership to the cost of their biggest rivals. But how unsavoury was the reaction of some of their fans?

Before the game, Alan Shearer had the guts to wish them luck, although not too much, he had added with a wry smile.How did the Sunderland supporters respond? With placards asking everyone to laugh at Newcastle’s plight. Ha ha ha.

Come on Sunderland. That’s not just British. Better to follow the example of some of your colleagues who chose humour instead. Who is going to be your next saviour, they asked? Ant or Dec? Hopefully, the answer will be Alan Shearer himself.