Nobody has ever officially told me I am banned from St James’ Park. Sometimes, though, you know when you are not welcome, and it is almost a decade now since it became apparent that, as far as the people at the top of Newcastle United are concerned, I will always be persona non grata as long as the Mike Ashley regime remains in place.

The saddest thing is that I would not want to go back anyway after everything that happened in my second spell as Newcastle manager and, though my feelings for the club won’t fade, that policy is set in stone until Mike Ashley has gone, and more than a hundred years of proud football history is removed from his business portfolio.

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