NEWCASTLE United could write all the open letters in the world this week to their long-suffering fans, it will not help or get away from the fact that by Sunday, they could be, once again, a Championship side.

Failure to beat already-relegated Queens Park Rangers despite taking the lead means that the Magpies will go into the final game of the season needing to win to guarantee their Premier League status.

If they don’t win, they have to hope that Hull City don’t pick up victory at home to Manchester United. It is very much in their hands, but with Saturday’s defeat their ninth in ten wretched games, can Magpies supporters really trust their team to do the job?

Regardless of the result on Sunday, Newcastle will have to hold a full inquest into how they allowed this to happen. Seemingly safe two months ago, there has been a monumental collapse to see them face off against West Ham United with their Premier League future at stake.

If defeat at Sunderland was bad, their loss at Leicester unacceptable, Saturday’s defeat, arguably, was the most chastening of the lot.

How Newcastle contrived to surrender a position of dominance to a team that so meekly gave up a week ago at Manchester City raises further questions about the Magpies’ ability to propel themselves from the danger zone.

This is QPR, a squad of individuals expensively assembled by Harry Redknapp who jumped ship when the going got tough, to see replacement boss Chris Ramsey bear the stain of relegation on his rookie CV while Redknapp retreated to Sandbanks for a cushy career as a rent-a-quote on talk radio.

Yet they managed to look like an accomplished side in the second half against Newcastle, who struggled to nail down the basics once Matt Phillips and Leroy Fer cancelled out Emmanuele Riviere’s first-half opener.

Often, when a side has been relegated from the league with a couple of games to spare, the pressure lifts and you see an improved performance. On their first half showing, this did not seem to be the case with Rangers, who displayed their full repertoire of just why they were relegated with a fortnight still to be played in the Premier League.

Newcastle did not have to get out of second gear to go in at the interval one-up, but that lack of intensity came back to bite them when Rangers began the second half with renewed energy. The pendulum had swung once Phillips nodded home in the 54th minute, and there was no looking back from there.

John Carver has a tough week on the training ground as he attempts to pick his side up from the floor with their biggest game of the last five years in the Premier League looming large.

“What we have to do is manage the situation,” said Carver. “I will have a chat with them and try to keep them away from the press as in watching TV, reading papers or going online.

“We have to try to keep it as low key as we can in that sense.

“But try to keep them as focused as possible. And do as much preparation as we can.

“That’s the most important thing – it is still in our hands. If you want it enough you can do something about it.

“I saw against West Brom after the players had their post-mortem and I had mine, there was a good reaction. We need to see that same reaction next week.”

There was one positive, at least. Riviere ended a season-long drought to score his first league goal of the campaign, when he collected Tim Krul’s long ball adroitly and scooped over Rob Green in the 24th minute.

Green had to be replaced five minutes later when he was inadvertently wiped out by Joey Barton as Rangers attempted to clear the ball after good work by Moussa Sissoko, who had burst into the box.

Magpies skipper Fabricio Coloccini brought a fine save out of substitute goalkeeper Alex McCarthy after Daryl Janmaat launched a ball into the six-yard area moments before half-time.

However, Rangers were a completely different proposition after the interval, with the Magpies failing to react to a sustained spell of pressure from their hosts on the restart, which culminated in Phillips nodding home in the 54th minute.

The game was turned on its head on the hour mark, when Fer unleashed an unstoppable shot into the top corner after Ryan Taylor had ducked a challenge from Phillips to release the Dutchman.

Chasing the game, Newcastle went 4-2-4 in a bid to get a result, but QPR defended doggedly to see the victory – Chris Ramsey’s first at Loftus Road – out.

Carver was left baffled by his side’s capitulation in the second half. “It was in our hands and we could have put it to bed, we haven’t but now it is definitely the biggest game and the biggest we’ve had for a long, long time,” said Carver, ahead of the West Ham game.

“What I will say is, I want the same atmosphere as we had against West Brom a fortnight ago because it could be the fans who actually get us across the line and keep our Premier League status.

“It made a difference to the team against West Brom. There will be a lot of people out there saying: ‘Why should we?’

“But I think that they want us to stay in the Premier League and if it gets us that extra 5% or 10% that keeps us in the Premier League, then we need it.

“Then once we get the game out of the way then we will have the post-mortem and we can deal with it.”