Toon need to find the next Sir John and King Kev

Humiliation has been heaped upon humiliation and, unless Lady Luck unexpectedly relents, relegation is the inevitable outcome.

Even if it is somehow avoided this dreadful season, then such is the feeling of hopelessness amongst the Toon Army at the total lack of leadership in both the boardroom and dressing-room that the belief is the dreaded drop will only be delayed for 12 months.

Changes may be required in vast numbers on the field of play, but they are also desperately sought at the very base of power. New men preferred, new revolutionary thinking at the very least, if power cannot be shifted.

Public opinion is greatly against the silent and seemingly blind director of operations Mike Ashley.

Geordies search desperately for a local billionaire who cares enough to act wisely . For a trusty lieutenant at his side bristling with medals and the passion of the people he serves.

Yet incredibly United have had such fantasy figures in recent times; Sir John Hall as owner and twice Kevin Keegan as inspirer.

Sir John secured Newcastle in a bloody war and set off on a buying policy that saw the club record fee smashed time upon time until a world record £15m was splashed on Alan Shearer.

And, yes, it worked. It wasn't reckless, it was carefully planned - and worked. United went from the brink of the old Third Division to runners-up in the Premiership, with the stadium having to be expanded to hold delirious fans rolling up in their fifty thousands.

Enter Keegan, of course. As skipper, he had inspired the Magpies to promotion into top- flight football at the beginning of the 80s following wilful mismanagement and depression, and a decade later repeated the feat as manager.

Unbelievably, both these men of stature were at St James's Park at the beginning of this very season, Hall as life president which he still is, of course, and KK as manager before his volcanic explosion at alleged interference and his spectacular fall-out with Mike Ashley.

Now I'm not suggesting both could repeat their previous feats. They were the right men for the right moment, but that moment has gone. We now need the next Sir John and King Kev .

Unfortunately, football has moved on apace, and being a millionaire is no longer good enough. Only billionaires, or consortiums, can afford such extravagance. And the simple fact is that there is not a Geordie knight waiting on a white charger.

Whatever may be thought of Sir John by some supporters, and his reputation has been muddied because of what happened in the immediate aftermath of his departure, United suffered as greatly in the boardroom on his disappearance as they did in the manager's office when it was first vacated by Keegan.

Two headstrong men, both new to their respective jobs in football, somehow gelled despite their obvious differences and surrounded themselves with sound advice to become a hugely potent force.

It was a monumental double blow when they left almost together, yet if United had got Bobby Robson immediately as Hall Snr wanted, it would have been a very different tale.

However, United's history is littered with missed opportunities!

If there wasn't to be a Geordie saviour, then United fans were relieved, no excited, when Ashley - an Englishman not American, Arab or from the Far East - bought the club.

He was welcomed, not as an outsider, but a leader in black-and-white. What wasn't foreseen was being led not a little way towards becoming champions but a very long way towards the Championship.

When Newcastle have gone down it has been for a very good reason. In 1978, it was because a rookie manager Richard Dinnis, really just a coach, was foolishly allowed to become manager and blew it big-time, with defeat upon defeat upon defeat to set the tone for a disastrous season.

Does that scenario ring any bells? And as the eighties disappeared into history it was relegation again, this time as an inevitable culmination of selling three Geordie superstars Chris Waddle, Peter Beardsley and Paul Gascoigne.

A bit like James Milner, Shay Given and Charles N'Zogbia leaving the current sinking ship? Had Ashley glanced at United's history he would not have repeated the Dinnis mistake nor the selling of his best players.

The faith placed in him was total but it has been betrayed. Only he knows if it is his fault alone or the fault of listening to people in his close inner circle.

United lost Keegan under the current regime because he wasn't allowed to select club signings, which he had done brilliantly in the early 90s, yet Newcastle have bought disastrously whoever made the final decision.

Fabricio Coloccini at £10m is robbery, Xisco cost £5m yet can't even get on the subs' bench, and Ryan Taylor has proved a poor investment when it was desperately required in the January transfer window.

At the same time, Shay Given was naively underpriced in going to the richest club in the world.

Not Wise moves if it was down to you, Dennis. Perhaps he wishes to concentrate on the academy, the job he was originally supposed to do, we were told, before interference apparently became his middle name.

Because, to be fair, I'm assured by no less a figure than Geordie legend Peter Beardsley that Wise has brought in some genuinely exciting teenagers from abroad.

At last Ashley and his cohorts have got something right and produced a PR coup by appointing one of the finest talents ever to grace a black-and-white shirt as forwards coach at the academy after years when Beardsley was wasted trudging round Tyneside doing little more than pressing flesh.

Peter is grateful to Wise and academy chief Richard Money for his appointment, long overdue, and I am genuinely pleased, as all Geordies will be, that he is to work developing future stars on our behalf.

But United must remember one thing.

There has got to be a today before tomorrow - and today looks desperately gloomy.

If Ashley is to stay, either because he cannot find a buyer, wants to safeguard his investment, or is full of remorse wishing to right many wrongs then let his actions be bold and transparent.

Let the boardroom and bootroom be revitalised by dynamic men, and let player investment be considerable not paltry.

It was one of Ashley's own players, Nicky Butt, who publicly warned the world that the club is going backwards and requires someone to go in and change it completely.

No ifs, Butt is right!