Shearer: Newcastle United Have No Choice But To Survive

Newcastle United's latest interim manager, Alan Shearer, has no delusions about the desperate situation in which the club currently find themselves, but he is backing the current playing staff to remedy things with the requisite speed to save the club from relegation.

"What do we want now?" he rhetorically asked The Newcastle Chronicle.

"Do we want to be playing in front of 10,000 or 12,000 people next season in grounds not as good as ours next year? Or do we want to be playing here at St James’ and going to Old Trafford and Anfield?

"There is no choice, we need to stay up and it has to be done. And I have seen enough from the players already to suggest that they are capable of it.

"It’s now a case of getting them to believe that. I believe it, and hopefully they will as well. I know it’s only been one day. But the session was lively and the players were great.

"There was a buzz around the place, they worked very well and the quality was there. That’s only on the training ground, though.

"Now we have to do that on a Saturday – starting tomorrow against Chelsea."

Shearer's arrival has galvanized the fans in a football crazy city, and the former England striker clearly appreciates the value of that passionately loyal support to the Magpies, adding, "I know we won’t be left wanting by the fans. They will come and they will pack this place out. They’ll give it a great atmosphere.

"The players have got to enjoy that and take confidence from that. I hope they are still like that on May 24. That means I have done something right. That’s the aim and that’s the hope.

"There has been a lot said and a lot written but, as I say, I don’t want it to be about me – it has to be about the football club.

"That’s why I am here, to try to help keep it in the Premier League. It is really tight down there. It will be one hell of a scrap.

"The nerves will be tested, but we’re ready for it."

He certainly has not been handed the easiest of fixtures in which to make his management bow, with the Magpies welcoming Chelsea to St James' Park tomorrow.

Shearer, though, is welcoming the challenge posed by Guus Hiddink's superstars, concluding defiantly, "I keep hearing people say it is a tough game. I understand that. They have world- class players and a great, experienced manager. They are going for the Premier League and they are in the quarter-finals of the Champions League.

"However, I still think it is a great game for us to have. I am not having the fact people keep saying ‘we will not get anything here’ – I do not accept that, I really don’t. If we do not gain anything tomorrow and the other teams win, they will be five points ahead of us.

"We do not want that. We have to take something."

Zack Wilson, Goal.com