2009 REPEAT IS UNTHINKABLE FOR TOON SKIPPER COLOCCINI

FABRICIO COLOCCINI grimaces, and shakes his head, when asked about the last time Newcastle were relegated.

Painful memories of the 2008-09 season are haunting Tyneside at the moment.

Toon are currently bottom of the league, without a win, and in danger of being cast adrift by the rest of the Premier League unless they beat Norwich on Sunday.

Coloccini has felt the anguish of relegation. He was part of the rebuilding job. Could history repeat itself with even more painful financial consequences, including the loss of £ 100million of TV income?

“No, completely different,” says the centre-back belligerently. “We have quality in our squad. We need more experience, and the new players need time to settle in. But the mood is different.

“In that season we started better, then had bad times in the middle of the season. Four managers. This time we have enough time to turn this around. We’ll finish strongly.

“To go down was very, very hard. But it helped the club to start again. We rebuilt everything. But this time we can’t afford to go down. This club has to be in the Premier League.”

Skipper Coloccini’s leadership has been criticised. The commitment of United’s foreign recruits is under scrutiny. Do they understand the language, the culture, the city?

The Argentine faced all those problems himself when he signed from Deportivo La Coruna for £10m.

Too many foreigners? “I can understand that criticism. It is difficult when you come from other leagues and there is none harder than this one. They take time to adjust, and to give their best form,” he said. “But it is the policy the club has and we respect that. But of course we need more experience in the Premier League, results show that.”

So are there enough strong characters in the dressing room? “Sometimes it is very difficult