Sir Bobby Fights On!

"It's sad how a big, magnificent club could have reached this point.

"I was there five years and they were among the most marvelous of my life. I never dreamt I would be manager there, but I loved every morning, every match, every moment of my time there. It was bottom (of the Premier League) when I took over and everybody was afraid it was going to slip into the Championship. It's hard to envisage how the club has gone back to where it was and possibly worse.

"There have been way too many managers and some of the player acquisitions have been dreadful.

"Who's been responsible for that, I don't know. In the five years at Newcastle, as well as coaching from Monday to Friday and working on Saturdays, I would send the likes of Charlie Woods, Gordon Milne, Tommy Craig and John Carver out scouting. When we bought James Milner, Jermaine Jenas, Charles N'Zogbia, Olivier Bernard, or Laurent Robert, we knew what we were buying.

"Certain players came when Kevin was there and I don't know who bought them or how many times they saw them play. How many times did they see the players away from home? How many times at home? You've got to do all that before you buy.

"Successful football clubs are all about successful relationships and you don't get that overnight. Since I left, success didn't come that readily and before you know where you are, they've changed manager again.

"Graeme Souness followed me and lasted a year and a bit. Then they gave it to Glenn (Roeder). He got about the same. Then Sam Allardyce and Kevin came in and got a few months each. It's just gone horribly wrong.

"In spite of the way it is, we must be the envy of a lot of other clubs in the league.

"They're still the third best-supported in the country. We must be the envy of Fulham, Blackburn, Everton, Liverpool. It's a one-city team and that's a great advantage.

"We've just lost that stability and the quicker the club is sold, proper people are put in charge and the right amount of money is made available, the better it will be. It's a massive club. And a fantastic club. On Saturday afternoons you look up into the stands and think: 'I hope we win today for this lot.' It's those 52,000 you feel sorry for. They're just magnificent people you work for and you just hope you can get them a great result to give them a great weekend.

"I felt that lift, the emotion, when Kevin was appointed. That day the city was enraptured, everyone thought the messiah had returned. It might take a while, but he'd get it right.

"Everyone thought he'd have a great relationship with Mike Ashley, that because he'd been given a three-year contract, the club would back him. It felt like an inspired choice. I thought to myself: 'This is it now.' But they threw a spanner in the works by appointing Dennis Wise and he operates from London. The mistake was bringing people in who aren't attuned to the club. Whether Dennis has the skill, expertise and experience in that field is very doubtful.

"They've brought in people like Xisco and (Ignacio) Gonzalez and when I first saw them I thought: 'How are they going to play in the Premier League?' Who's responsible for buying those players? Who saw them play?"