Shay Insists The Toon Are Not Too Big To Go Down!

Shay Given: "Hopefully we can get some players in, even if it is just a couple of loan signings to freshen things up.

"There is no getting away from it - we're in a relegation battle. It's so, so serious. No club is too big to go down.

"It's very different to what we imagined, and it's not an ideal situation. But this is where we are and we can't change what has happened.

"We must get the club moving forward again. It will become more intense if we are still in this position after Christmas.

"If you are still down there after the Festive period, you will be down there for much of the season.

"So we want to get away from it before hand. We have Portsmouth on Sunday and that is a chance to get three points and get Stoke out of our systems."