Newcastle players should be ashamed but careful what you wish for over Mike Ashley, says Steve Howey

Former Newcastle star Steve Howey says some of the club's players "should be disgusted with themselves" for their recent displays.

The situation on Tyneside is dire, with swathes of fans abstaining from matches at St James' Park and calling for Mike Ashley's departure with banners and protests outside the stadium.

Meanwhile, the team are in freefall in the Premier League, sitting just two points above the drop zone with three games left, having lost their last eight games.

And Howey, who made over 200 appearances for Newcastle from 1989 to 2000, believes the current crop of players must take their share of the blame for the current predicament the club finds itself in.

"If you take out Tim Krul, Daryl Janmaat, Jack Colback and possibly Ayoze Perez, the rest of the lads who have played the majority of games this season should be disgusted with themselves to be quite honest," Howey told the Morning View on Sky Sports News HQ.

"The performances have not been good enough. You could see by the body language of the players against Leicester that they were a beaten team. Too many of them are low on confidence and not playing well.

"It's difficult to stop the rot because it’s infested in there at the moment. Fabricio Coloccini has come out and written a letter to the fans saying there has been clear the air talks and there were rumours of players going face-to-face with each other, grabbing each other’s throats.

"We don’t know whether that’s rumour or not but, for me personally, I hope it’s true. At least one of them cares. They’ve obviously gone in and said: 'look, you can say what you want, but as soon as that meeting's finished, that's it, and we all move on together'.

"Hopefully they’ve sat down and pointed the finger and said some home truths. If that’s the case, it’s time to draw a line under it and move on. They’ve got a difficult game against West Brom on Saturday.

"We all know Tony Pulis sets up his teams to be hard to break down, so it’s important the fans get behind the team because in the last game, when the players went across to see the fans, the fans booed them."

'Be careful what you wish for'

Meanwhile, Howey has warned supporters to "be careful what you wish for" over their protests against Ashley's ownership of the club.

I don’t think (Mike) Ashley has done brilliantly but at the same time he could sell up and Newcastle could turn into a Portsmouth or a Leeds.

Howey says Newcastle could end up like Portsmouth or Leeds if a different owner came in.

He added: "I will make this point, and I know Newcastle fans will probably batter me for this, but I think you’ve got to be careful what you wish for with a new owner.

"I don’t think Ashley has done brilliantly but at the same time he could sell up and Newcastle could turn into a Portsmouth or a Leeds.

"I always said through the Alan Pardew campaign; ‘be careful what you wish for’. You’ve got to be really careful. Even though it’s dreadful at the moment, financially they’re on an even keel."

Part of the supporters' fury has also been at the club’s perceived lack of desire to compete across all competitions and Howey insists he agrees with their complaints.

"We don’t demand a team that wins, we just demand a club that tries," he said. "Everyone thinks Newcastle are a club happy to be in Premier League and be mid-table but everyone’s massively disappointed that they don’t even bother going for any of the cups."