NEWCASTLE NEED REAL GEORDIES

But how the club got into this sorry state is irrelevant. Whatever happens today, one thing is for sure: Newcastle's stock could hardly be lower. In fact, their stock is of the laughing variety.

Whether it is in the top flight or the Championship, it is a club that needs to re-invent itself.

It is a miserable melting pot of trophy signings, slow foreign players out for a fast buck, fading Premier League scrappers and the odd blue-chip rogue.

No one can deny that Newcastle - not unique but pretty damn special - is a club at the very heart of a city. But its soul has disappeared.

Previously, I've mocked the pretensions of the so-called Geordie Nation. But the Geordie Nation provides the club's only hope of salvation. Tell me Newcastle fans: Who was the last foreign recruit to win a genuine place in your affection?

A guy who you thought would spill his last drop of blood for the cause? Phillipe Albert, perhaps. Ten years ago. It certainly wasn't Xisco. Or Jose Enrique. Or Jonas Gutierrez. Or Fabrizio Coloccini.

You might have pinned your hopes on Sebastien Bassong. But how does he react to being honoured as the club's Player of the Year? He doesn't fancy playing in the Championship.

This might sound outlandishly non-PC. Discriminatory, even. t's not meant to be. The simple fact is that Newcastle's policy of buying expensive - but still strictly second-tier - continental players has not worked.

FOREIGN FLOP - Fabrizio Coloccini (left) struggles to keep up with Liverpool's Dirk Kuyt

And if we believe the mantra from those steeped in the club's history, how can it? Keegan said southerners - those types who like to go to the theatre - could never understand what makes Newcastle United tick.

Well, if they can't, what chance has a bloke from Saenz Pena, Argentina, got?

And the first thing most of the imports moan about is that they are 300 miles away from those southern theatres. If it really is a separate nation, it should turn to its own. In Alan Shearer, they have a natural leader. A Geordie pied piper.

Now, they should focus on bringing talent through the ranks. Rebuild a feeder system that suffered unforgivable neglect while supporters revelled in the party thrown by Albert, Ginola and Co.

Don't allow another local star to slip through the net. Local pride is a priceless feeling.

Ask the Barcelona fans, who could see seven products of the club's youth academy feature in the Champions League Final.

Ask the West Ham fans, who were able to swallow the pill of defeat against Liverpool recently because there were six homegrown players in the side.

Ask the Atletico Bilbao fans, who lined the streets in their tens of thousands to welcome home a team that had just been thumped 4-1 in a cup final - proud because every player was one of their own.

Tyneside is no Basque country. But they don't have to be Geordies. They don't have to be English. Just players brought up through the striped ranks who understand what the club is all about. What it represents.

After all, you can't be committed to a cause if you don't know what that cause is.

The route of developing talent, resisting the lure of exotic goods, might not bring success. It might not give Premier League status back to the club if relegation strikes this afternoon. But at least it will give it back its soul.

Now get the News of World print edition for more from Andy Dunn

• Alan Shearer won't consider drop
• CRISTIANO RONALDO HAS NO HONESTY
• DON'T WRITE US OFF
• MICHAEL OWEN SHOCK RETURN
• NEWCASTLE BOSS IN LIMBO
• JOEY BARTON FOR BOLTON
• STRIKER SET TO QUIT TOON
• FRASER FORSTER IS A KEEPER

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