Alan Shearer picks out three key players to keep at NUFC

May 26 2009 by Mark Douglas, The Journal

“This has devastated everybody. There have to be big changes after this and people need to realise it is an honour to play for Newcastle United Football Club – it doesn’t matter what club you are at,” he said. “You have to give it 100% and the past 10 months hasn’t been good enough. It is starting to sink in now we are a Championship team and we have to deal with it.

“We have to put ourselves back up there. St James’s Park is going to have to be a fortress.”

The consequences of relegation are likely to be devastating to a club that was already relying on handouts from Ashley to keep the books balanced. Shearer raised the prospect of the club having to make staff redundant before the crunch Aston Villa game, and they will seek to streamline operations in other ways, too.

But the vast majority of the club’s focus will be on shaving the £80m wage bill that has hung like a yoke around the club’s neck.

One player definitely not returning to St James’s Park next season will be Peter Lovenkrands, whose short-term deal with United has run out. His agent said yesterday that he wants to play Premier League football again next season, and indicated that he will be looking for another club. The Dane scored three goals during his time at Newcastle but was anonymous at Villa Park.

“We are looking for a new contract for Peter in England,” his agent Ivan Marko Benes told Bild.dk. “Most players want to play in the top division, so Peter is no different.”

Meanwhile Jonas Gutierrez will concentrate on Argentina’s forthcoming World Cup qualifiers before considering his Newcastle future.