Sunday 15 May 2016 18:28, UK
Stats, quotes and expert opinion on Newcastle's 2015/16 Premier League season, which saw them relegated...
Finishing position: 18th (-3)
Total points: 37 (-2)
FA Cup: Third round
Capital One Cup: Third round
Top scorer: Georginio Wijnaldum (11)
WhoScored top rating: Andros Townsend (7.35)
Season review
Jonas Gutierrez joyously stripped off his shirt as Newcastle saved themselves on the final afternoon of last term. But one soul-destroying season has been followed by another and this time there was no fumbled escape - despite a shock last-day thrashing of Spurs. The Championship awaits; the Toon Army must squeeze into Burton's 6,900-capacity stadium.
In the cruellest twist, Sunderland rubber-stamped relegation but Newcastle fans will know their fate was sealed not on Wearside but rather in their own boardroom; a demise long set in motion by calamitous decisions, erratic recruitment and misplaced priorities.
Steve McClaren - ominously named on the club's football board - had talked up his dream job and his top-eight target. But Newcastle did not win until October and despite eye-catching victories against Liverpool and Norwich, still languished in the bottom three at the turn of the year. Defeats at Sunderland, West Ham and Crystal Palace - where a shambolic-looking side shipped five goals - were particularly damaging. Cup exits at the first hurdle felt familiarly depressing.
After summer's spree on players who looked good on paper, January brought more big-money arrivals. But while Andros Townsend offered rare hope for optimism until the end, defensive reinforcements that were desperately needed never came. McClaren clung on through February and into March but a home defeat to Bournemouth, the air thick with mutiny, finally prompted action from above.
Rafa Benitez, swayed by the rush of the Premier League and struck by the club's potential, took on a 10-game gamble and it so nearly paid off. But though the man who had started the campaign managing Real Madrid egos guided Newcastle to their best run since November 2014, this was like 2009 again: too little, too late.
Newcastle are back in the second tier for the second time in maligned owner Mike Ashley's nine-year tenure. How they hope Benitez - hailed by fans throughout the final fixture - will get the assurances he needs to revive the club he pertinently noted "needs to wake up".
Quotes of the season
"Judge me after 10 games … judge me after 12 games … judge me at the end of the season." - McClaren, laying down one marker and then another…
"Listen, I'll put my house on it that Newcastle will not go down," - former chairman Freddy Shepherd in February.
"This is the most frustrating team I've worked with. We see fantastic performances from individuals one week and we look capable of beating anyone, then the next week it's the polar opposite and we can lose by five or six goals," - beleaguered Steve McClaren speaking after a 5-1 thrashing at Chelsea pushed his side back into the drop zone.
"Many of you have expressed strong views about what we could have done differently. I respect those views but I would like to reiterate that it has always been my intention to try to achieve the very best for Newcastle United," - owner Mike Ashley in a statement after relegation.
"My heart is obviously telling me yes. It's a fantastic opportunity, a fantastic atmosphere. My heart is very clear - but at the same time you have to use the brain." - Rafa Benitez, speaking to Sky Sports after a final-day rout of Tottenham.
Stats of the season
Newcastle's failure to find a victory in their first eight matches of the campaign made it their worst start to a season since 1898/99.
Steve McClaren's win ratio at Newcastle was just 22.6 per cent - the lowest of his career.
Newcastle spent 206 days in the relegation zone - beaten only by Aston Villa and Sunderland.
Only Manchester City had a bigger net spend than Newcastle's £75m. £29m was splashed in January on Shelvey, Townsend and Henri Saviet - who played just 148 minutes of first team football.
Phil Thompson's view
Maybe if Rafael Benitez had come in earlier they might have stayed up but it was too little, too late.
"Steve McClaren always had a difficult job. There's more politics to it than we know, with player recruitment especially, and while Mike Ashley may have dug deep this season you have to look at whether they've had the desire. McClaren was under massive pressure and didn't succeed because they were defensively dreadful. Maybe if Rafael Benitez had come in earlier they might have stayed up but it was too little, too late."
