10 Times Newcastle United Totally Bottled It In The Big Game

4. Aston Villa 1-0 NUFC

Competition: Premier League Season: 2008/09 On the day of reckoning at Villa Park the Newcastle players knew only a win was enough to spare them the shame of a richly deserved relegation and preserve their status as a Premier League entity for another year at least. We should all know the outcome by now. This wasn't a case of a team, constantly undermined by boardroom strife, coming up painfully short in a valiant fight to avoid plunging into the murky waters of the Championship at the climax of a turbulent season. Not even close. In fact the reality was excruciating as those clad in black and white offered only a faint-hearted riposte to going a goal behind when Gareth Barry's daisy cutter clipped the heel of Damien Duff and nestled in the back of Steve Harper's net. It was fitting that our destiny was decided by one of our own. Our reaction was a grotesque acceptance of fate more than anything else. And the most nauseating aspect of the defeat is that we didn't except anything less than that. Luckily, in the grand scheme of things, relegation later transpired to be a blessing in disguise for the Club.