WITH the fans and boardroom at loggerheads with the way Newcastle United is being run and fears of relegation increasing after a sixth straight defeat, Geordie-born midfielder Jack Colback has admitted he is “embarrassed” by the club’s lowly position.

Colback, born and raised on Tyneside, offered a glimmer of hope to the Magpies supporters who ignored calls for a boycott on Sunday by scoring an equaliser in the opening exchanges of the second half against Tottenham.

But in the end Spurs left St James’ Park with the points courtesy of goals from Nacer Chadli, Christian Eriksen and Harry Kane to leave Newcastle just seven points above the bottom three with five matches remaining.

While that may sound a healthy advantage, Newcastle have played an extra game than three of the teams below them and they are still to play Leicester City and Queens Park Rangers away from home after this Saturday’s visit of Swansea City to the North-East.

And Killingworth-raised Colback said: “Being from around here, having family and friends who support the club, it is difficult to talk to them about the team at times because they have followed the team for years and seen great success here.

“To be in a position like this, I almost feel embarrassed sometimes to talk about the position we are in when the team is losing. For me personally I will be there every week, every game I play I will do everything I can to fight for this team.

“That will hopefully get us to the point where we are safe this season and hopefully we can kick on and compete next season for a place where we would like to think we can achieve.”

An official attendance was given as more than 47,000 for Sunday’s game, although it has been suggested a closer estimate would be around the 40,000-mark given the number of empty seats.

Boasting the weekend’s highest attended league game in the country might suggest the planned boycott was not as successful at it could have been, although the protests and stayaway fans did highlight the fractures which exist between the support and owner Mike Ashley’s rule.

Colback said: “There’s nothing I can say that will help the fans at the minute, otherwise they will just think ‘yeah, yeah, Jack Colback is saying this’ or whatever. We have to get on as a player and try to change it. We have to win a game as quickly as possible.

“You can’t have any issues with the way the fans are. It is clearly frustrating for them. I can’t really say anything to help them because probably the last thing they want to read is comments from me.

“We have to appreciate the ones who did come. It’s a great place to come and at the minute there is no hiding place and we have to show we are strong characters. It is a difficult industry when you are losing games. Nobody will just give us the wins, we have to get out of it.”

Organisers of the staged boycott – AshleyOut.com – have since issued a statement claiming “success” and that it is “just the start of what will be a long and sustained campaign to reclaim our club.”

The situation could yet get a lot worse if Newcastle’s players and head coach John Carver can’t find a way of ending a six-match losing streak which equals their worst run in the Premier League era.

Colback said: “It can soon tighten up at the bottom. We have got to be careful. There are winnable games left for us but they are all going to be tough, they will be competitive. We need it as quickly as possible so we can relax a bit more in games.

“We need to show the quality we show in training on a match-day, for some reason it is more difficult on a match- day when you are losing games. We have to make sure we win one as soon as we can and grow from there.”

He added: “Sometimes it is a bit of luck you need to get out of a slump like this. It’s winning ugly and winning games when you know you have scrapped a result out when you have not played well. I think that is what we have to do.

“There’s no point looking at how we perform now. It’s about winning games. When you are on a run like this it can be difficult and everything seems to go against you.

“We got ourselves back in to it early on in the season when we were playing better, but it wasn’t to be. It is difficult and you have to keep going.

“If we are not careful then we will get dragged in to it. Teams at the bottom always seem to pick up towards the end of the season. We have seen it with Leicester. It is a difficult moment and it is naive to think we are out of it just because one win would do it.”