Sir Bobby Always Had Belief In Toon Outcast!

"I loved playing for the club and I would have been happy to still be there now. People perhaps don't realise what a massive club it is, but once you have played there, you realise. It should be in the top six every year and probably in the Champions League.

"Yeah, I had my ups and downs. The highs were great, but the lows, well they were low. I seemed to have a bit of a love-hate relationship with the fans and there were some unpleasant moments, but on the whole it was a very happy stage in my career.

"I was a young man when I went there and I left four years later knowing I'd played for one of the biggest clubs in the country. I'd played in the Champions League and I'd played for a manager like Sir Bobby Robson who always believed in me when others didn't. That is some compliment for a player.

"Nobody makes mistakes on purpose, and everybody does make mistakes. Sometimes it is a lapse in concentration, sometimes it is bad technique, but it happens to everyone.

"Strikers miss open goals, but they can get away with it. But if defenders or goalkeepers make a mistake, the ball is in the back of the net. That's the position we play in. That's the way it goes.

"I'm not bitter about the treatment I received. Sometimes I felt as though it was a little harsh, but the fans have such high expectations. They do take it out on the players sometimes, but in the main they were great. I had a lot of support from them while I was there as well, people perhaps forget that. If anything I regret not being able to do enough to get a new contract.

"I'm enjoying my football at Wigan.

"It's been a good move. The fans have been brilliant to me and the squad has got stronger and stronger.

"I think the big difference at Wigan is the fans don't have such high expectations. Perhaps they are more patient because they expect less, but you have to remember Newcastle are a massive club who haven't won anything for years. It's very frustrating for the fans.

"The club will always have a special place for me and I'm as amazed as anyone by what has gone on this season.

"But the club has always been a mess off the pitch.

"There was always stuff going on in the boardroom and the manager has always had to struggle to cope with that as well as the team on the pitch. Maybe that is why it's been held back as a football club.

"There always seems to be some sort a distraction off the pitch and, in that respect, it's not an easy club to play for. In the last two or three years I think the problems at the top of the club have filtered down to the players.

"If Newcastle are ever going to realise their potential - and they should be in the top five or six every season and pushing for the Champions League again - then they have to get things right from top to bottom."