Toon Relegated After Gutless Performance!

Last Updated : 25-May-2009 by
ASTON VILLA: Friedel, Gardner (Heskey 75), Davies, Cuellar, Shorey, Milner, Petrov (Reo-Coker 84), Barry, Ashley Young, Carew (Sidwell 89), Agbonlahor.
Subs Not Used: Guzan, Delfouneso, Knight, Albrighton.

NEWCASTLE: Harper, Coloccini, Steven Taylor, Edgar, Duff, Guthrie, Nolan (Owen 66), Butt, Lovenkrands (Jose Enrique 57), Viduka (Ameobi 75), Martins.
Subs Not Used: Krul, Smith, Gutierrez, Ryan Taylor.

Att: 42,585

The Toon needed at least a draw to overtake Hull City, who lost to Manchester United, but failed to get out of the starting blocks as Coloccini set the pattern of play in the first five minutes for the the visitors by looking like a rabbit caught in the headlights of a car.

It was a nervy performance, but the lack of fight was obvious early doors, and it became obvious Alan Shearer has not sparked any life into a team that has struggled all season.

Nicky Butt tried ... the rest were like amateurs in a Sunday morning kick-about.

What the hell Shearer was thinking about putting 'Fat Boy' Viduka in the starting line-up after he showed on our trip to Anfield that he cannot run two yards without needing oxygen.

We were going to have to hit Villa on the break ... it takes Viduka ten minutes to get out of the centre circle ... never mind trouble the Villa defence with pace.

The system was all wrong, and the home side hardly needed to get out of first gear to win the match.

Newcastle fans chanted "attack, attack, attack" but there was little evidence of their side threatening the Villa goal.

Newcastle's 16-year spell in the Premier League came to an end as Damien Duff's own goal doomed us to a 1-0 defeat as the rest of the relegation-threatened fodder did exactly what we prayed for ... lose!

So it was in our own hands ... and we BLEW IT! Partly through a system that looked doomed even before a ball was kicked, but it seemed as though the players knew it too!

Duff deflected a 38th-minute shot from stand-in skipper Gareth Barry past Steve Harper to seal their fate and it means Magpies legend Shearer has failed to work the miracle we hoped he would achieve with eight games remaining.

Newcastle have paid the price for a season of instability ever since Kevin Keegan decided to quit as manager in early September after Mike Ashley did some 'tinkering' then decided to put the club up for sale.

Joe Kinnear was brought in to try and rescue the situation until his heart problems terminated his involvement and led to Shearer getting the call.

Now Shearer has to decide whether he wants to take on the task of trying to help the Magpies regain their top flight status and is due to have talks with Ashley early next week.

He clearly has a massive rebuilding job ahead of them with the future of 15 players, reportedly on £50,000 or more a week, to be sorted out ahead of the less glamorous life of trips to Peterborough and Scunthorpe in the Coca-Cola Championship.

Michael Owen made his last appearance in a Newcastle shirt when he came on in place of Kevin Nolan after 66 minutes and did what he's done for the last four years ... NOWT!

David Edgar was sent off in injury-time for bringing down Ashley Young - his second bookable offence - and soon after the Magpies' fate was sealed.

Relegation hurts - you'd better believe it - but the way the team went down without even putting up a fight was too much to take.

That team (man for man) has to go down in the history books for what they did yesterday ... they lay down and died!