ANGRY Bobby Robson last night claimed the knives are out for him at Newcastle, but insisted: "I won't walk away.''

Manager Robson fired a furious broadside at "the jerks'' who have criticised him and his coaching staff after a season of disappointment on Tyneside.

And he maintained he had "worked a miracle'' in keeping the Magpies in the Premiership after predecessor Ruud Gullit had left them next to bottom in the top flight.

"The knives seem to be out - even the coaching staff are getting attacked - and I don't like it,'' said Robson, who has been stung by fans' letters in local newspapers.

"My head coach, Mick Wadsworth, is getting criticised, but he's no fly-by-night who's gone into coaching after having a nice career.

"I know what he's done because, when I was director of coaching for England, he was a member of my staff as a regional coach in the North-West.

"So you can tell the clever Dicks that my coaching staff is equal to everything in this country and I'll stand up for them.''

Robson's signings have also been called into question by some fans.

Yet, within the constraints of a tight budget, the 68-year-old former England boss has shown a small profit on his transfer dealings, which he says by the end of the season will have witnessed the departures of 31 players in his 20 months in charge.

"I've bought players with limited money, but people are now talking about bad buys,'' said Robson.

"But I think, with the money I've had, I've worked a miracle. When I came here this club was sinking - it was heading for the First Division.

"I read a letter in a paper telling me I should get rid of people like Alan Shearer, Gary Speed, Warren Barton and Robert Lee.

"The guy who wrote that is a jerk. Those players saved the club last season - they were our bluechip players - and without them we wouldn't be where we are today.''

Robson cited a series of injuries to key players like Shearer, Lee, Kieron Dyer, Carl Cort and Nikos Dabizas, as the reason for his side's poor showing this season.

"It's been an horrific season for injuries,'' said Robson. "Robert Lee is recovering from a knee operation at the moment, but I think he has still got a good year left in him.

"I think he'll give us 25 super games in midfield - and he might give us more. I won't write him off. Ruud did, but I resurrected his career.

"At the end of last season, we finished 11th and everyone was delighted.

"We know we haven't done well for the public this season. We've lost too many games - we lost two derbies and no-one was hurt more than me.

"We played probably our worst 45 minutes of the season in our last home match against Southampton. We lost two points, but we won't let the season die and if we finish with two good results, we know it will appease our public a bit.

"We want them to stick with us. We don't want arrows flying across our heads and knives in our backs.

"I hope most fans are backing me, otherwise what's the point of being here? We need the public to stay with us for the last two matches. We know we need to improve the quality of the squad and I know we will do better next season.''

Newcastle end the current campaign with a home double-header.

Beaten FA Cup finalists Arsenal are the opponents tonight before Aston Villa arrive on Saturday.

Robson has been hit by more injury trouble, with Chilean midfielder Clarence Acuna falling victim to the same tendinitis problem as skipper Shearer.

Robson said: "He's had it for about a month and been playing with it. It's similar to Alan's tendinitis, but it's in its early stages. He wants to play, but the medcial team say we should give him a rest and he'll be fit for the start of next season.''

Peruvian winger Nolberto Solano has recovered from the ankle sprain he picked up in last week's testimonial game at West Brom.

Newcastle (from): Given, Barton, Dabizas, O'Brien, Quinn, Bassedas, Solano, Speed, Cort, Gallacher, Cordone, Glass, Ameobi, Harper, Hughes, S Caldwell, Lualua, McClen.