Duff: I'm staying at Newcastle

Damien Duff has vowed to remain at Newcastle United after his own goal sealed the Magpies' relegation.

Duff inadvertently deflected a first-half shot from Aston Villa's stand-in skipper Gareth Barry past Newcastle goalkeeper Steve Harper to doom his side to a 1-0 reverse on Sunday at Villa Park.

It meant Newcastle finished in the bottom three but Duff is keen to help the club regain their Barclays Premier League status at the first attempt.

own goal

Duff said: "I'm as loyal as they come and, whether the gaffer stays or goes, I'd love to try and get Newcastle back up into the Premier League.

"I don't know what words can describe the way I feel. I'm devastated. The lads haven't tasted relegation apart from me at Blackburn and Nicky Butt at Birmingham.

"When it happened at Blackburn, I wasn't planning on seeing it again in my career. It's not a nice feeling.

"No disrespect to the Championship, but Newcastle are too big a club to be down there. I plan on being straight back up (in the Premier League) after next season."

As regards the own goal, Duff said: "You think, 'why me?'. But I'm a big man, and I've been around for a while now, so I'm going to have to get over it.

"I'll be thinking about it for a long, long time, but what can you do? That's football. You can't dwell on disappointments in your career. You have to move on. I think we've had a lot of bad luck, but at times in a season, you do make your own luck."