Steve Howey: “You have to hand it to Chris Hughton and his players.
“They’ve picked up more points than we did so, in that respect, their achievement is greater.
“We’d just avoided relegation to the third tier of English football the previous season. The current Newcastle side were playing in the Premier League a year ago. But while expectations were incredibly high with Kevin Keegan in charge, the mood among fans this season was more pessimistic than optimistic.
“So it’s been incredible the way they’ve turned things around to win promotion so easily.
“Taking nothing away from Chris and his players, if you ask supporters which team is better, the unanimous verdict would be Kevin’s.
"We finished third in the Premier League and, let’s face it, that’s not going to happen again.”