A REFLECTIVE Jermaine Jenas last night predicted a "summer of upheaval" as Newcastle boss Graeme Souness tries to fashion a squad that can restore the club to its former glories.

Souness refused to be drawn on his summer plans in the wake of Sunday's 1-1 draw with Chelsea, but the Scot will meet chairman Freddy Shepherd later this week to finalise his blueprint for success.

That will almost certainly involve off-loading five or six senior professionals, with the same number of players coming into St James' Park in an attempt to improve on this season's bitterly disappointing 14th-place finish.

Jenas will not be one of the players moving on - he has missed just two games under Souness when fit - but, after such a calamitous campaign, the midfielder accepts that his place in under just as much threat as anybody else's.

"I'm expecting a summer of upheaval at St James' Park," said the 22-year-old, who will now link up with the England squad ahead of this month's mini-tour of the United States.

"We have to be judged on our results and they have not been good enough. We should be in the Champions League, not in 14th place.

"It's up to the manager about what he is going to do, but I expect a lot of changes. We need to regroup and get ourselves together this summer. The gaffer will make whatever changes he wants to make in terms of players.

"As a player, you just have to wait and see what is going to happen - who will be coming and who will be going.

"I've always risen to the challenge of new players coming in and I will try and do so again."

With Patrick Kluivert and Craig Bellamy unlikely to play for Newcastle again, Souness is expected to make a proven goalscorer his number one priority this summer.

Michael Owen continues to be linked with a move to Tyneside but, while that remains an unlikely scenario, the Magpies manager is continuing to monitor the situation of both unsettled Spurs striker Robbie Keane and Championship-bound Crystal Palace forward Andy Johnson.

Midfield is another area Souness is looking to strengthen, and Inter Milan are understood to have contacted Newcastle to sound out their interest in Turkish international Emre.

While a paltry return of ten Premiership wins underlined the need for a radical overhaul of the squad, the arrival of up to half a dozen new faces does not come without its problems.

Newcastle have suffered a slow start in their last two league campaigns and, with their European hopes hinging on July and August's Intertoto Cup, they can ill afford a similarly tardy opening next season.

"If you're going to bring in a lot of players we will need to gel," confirmed Jenas. "Chelsea have shown that this season. They brought in a lot of players, but they gelled together very quickly.

"In the season before I came here, the club rose from 11th to fourth. I think we can do that again. It's a similar situation.

"The players need to get that taste back. I think some might have lost that taste. I don't think finishing 14th is good enough for Newcastle United - it isn't acceptable."

Jenas' first season at St James' saw him taking on the European elite in the rarefied environs of the Champions League.

Things will be very different if he is involved on July 16, when Newcastle kick off their Intertoto Cup campaign against a team from either Turkey, Hungary or Slovakia.

The maturing midfielder was not at the club when they last took part in the much-maligned competition four years ago and, while he will be giving his all in two months' time, he is desperate to return to a more high-profile arena as soon as possible.

"It's important, next year, that we get back to competing for the Champions League," he explained.

"When the season started, I thought we would be challenging for the Champions League as we had done for the previous two years.

"No disrespect to the UEFA Cup, but the Champions League is far superior. You develop so much more as a player if you're in it. I miss it and so does the club."

* Newcastle yesterday revealed that their season ticket prices for next season will remain unchanged.

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