NEWCASTLE'S championship dreams withered and died before the adoring eyes of the St James' Park faithful but the message was clear "We'll be back."
Kevin Keegan was the first to make the promise, describing headlines suggesting his imminent departure as "absolute garbage" and pledging that not only would he remain as Newcastle boss, but that there would be no compromising.
"It's about entertainment, that's the name of the game," said Keegan. "People come to sit in our magnificent stadium and they want a team that goes out and entertains.
"Some people think there's something wrong with that, but I'm not one of them. We'll be back, and we'll play the same way."
Keegan's eye for new players will continue to roam during his stint as a Euro `96 analyst for ITV, although he accepted that, after spending more than £26 million since last summer, the pot was not bottomless.
But his upbeat assessment on the future of the club was echoed by chairman Sir John Hall, who pointed out that the five year master plan that envisaged championship glory coming to Tyneside still had 12 months to run.
"I said before a ball was kicked in August that we were a year ahead of schedule," he declared.
"I'm very proud of what we've achieved. We have played marvellous football and I'm sure every neutral wanted us to win the title.
"But this is just the beginning. The best is yet to come. The future is bright and then foundations have been laid for success for the next 10 or 15 years and beyond.
"We will continue to invest, to learn from what has happened. We are confident that we can now go on to make the breakthrough into becoming the best club in Britain."
Defender Steve Howey admitted that there was a sense of relief at the vehemence of Keegan's statement that he would remain at the club.
"We read all that stuff in the papers and we discussed it among ourselves and wondered what Kevin would do," he said.
"I think a few of us wondered if he might think `I don't need this any more', but he's made for the job, and we love him to bits.
He's no more exempt from the pressures than anybody else, He's had microphones stuck in his face all day, every day."
