Steve Harper accepts all Newcastle United players are playing for their futures in the remaining weeks of the season.

"Every player has to be conscious there could be huge changes in the summer," Harper told the Sunday Sun. "Players have to realise the manager when he arrived in January didn't really have time to get any personnel in. He is having to make the best use of what he has.

"Everyone is playing knowing that come the summer, and the owner we have here now, there will be substantial funds made available. I don't think he worries about the mortgage rate!

"The manager will be backed in the summer so everybody has to be aware knowing they are playing for their future.

"This is a massive club. Every game you are under pressure. Nobody can afford to be complacent because no one is better equipped than Kevin Keegan to know the scale of the job he has here.

"But it's great for the club to go out and get top-class players. It excites me. It's what every player here should want: to get the club back where it belongs."