Newcastle United and Norwich City will play in the Championship next season following their relegation from the English Premier League last May.

In their attempt to sidestep the drop, the Magpies went through two managers – Steve McClaren and Rafael Benitez.

Benitez is still at the helm and will leave no stone unturned to steer Newcastle back to the top flight at the first attempt.

Despite spending nearly £80m on new players, Newcastle never got going. Most of the fans wanted owner Mike Ashley to leave St James’s Park even though when the need arose he put his hands in his pockets to give the club an-other push.

McClaren was not the right man for the job. Benitez re-organised the Newcastle defence on his appointment and inspired a partial fightback. However, he was unable to stop the side from finishing in the drop zone at the end of the season.

In a cruel twist, rivals Sunderland rubberstamped Newcastle’s fate, a demise long set in motion by calamitous board decisions and misplaced priorities.

At Carrow Road, a proven scorer would surely have saved Norwich from the drop.

The Canaries conceded more penalties (10) than any other side and have now been relegated from the Premier League a joint-high four times – level with Crystal Palace.

Last season, Norwich also kept the fewest clean sheets in the Premier League – five.

In the domestic cups Newcastle and Norwich had difficult times.

Newcastle went out to Sheffield Wednesday at home in round three of the League Cup competition and in the FA Cup tournament they bowed out to Watford at the same stage.

Norwich lasted up to round three in the League Cup, going out to West Brom at home where they also exited in the other contest to Manchester City in the same round.