NICKY Butt has launched a withering attack on the "one or two" Newcastle players who are not completely committed to the club.
And with Sam Allardyce due to be confirmed as Newcastle's new manager at a St James' Park press conference this afternoon, the midfielder has challenged the former Bolton boss to rid his new employers of the poisoned personalities who are hampering United's Premiership prospects.
When Allardyce officially takes over on Tyneside later today, he will inherit a deeply-divided squad.
Sunday's 1-1 draw with Watford will have told the 52-year-old little about Newcastle's playing capabilities that he did not already know.
But away from the field of play, events at Vicarage Road provided him with an alarming snapshot of a club that has torn itself apart for the majority of the campaign.
The more senior members of the Newcastle squad are known to be disgusted with the lack of professionalism displayed by some of their team-mates, and Allardyce's first challenge will be to unite a dressing room that is pulling in a number of different directions.
"Hopefully, he (Allardyce) can come in and sort a few things out," said Butt, a player whose wholehearted dedication has endeared him to a Newcastle support that was sceptical of his own levels of motivation at the start of the season.
"The majority of lads in the dressing room are good lads and good professionals, but there are a few who don't want to play for the club and the sooner he gets them sorted out the better.
"If players don't want to play for the club, they should be got rid of as quickly as possible.
"I'm not normally one who will come out and slag my team-mates off, but there are genuinely one or two lads in there who don't want to play for the club. We know that, and the fans know it as well.
"I do feel there are a lot of players who give 100 per cent the whole time. Maybe they don't always do too well, but there are also other players in there who have the ability and don't want to do well."
It is rare for a footballer to make such a strongly-worded attack on his fellow professionals, but Butt's vitriol underlines the extent to which the more honest members of the Newcastle squad have become thoroughly frustrated with the antics of some of their colleagues.
By the end of Glenn Roeder's reign, it was clear that a number of players were no longer prepared to play for their manager. After Sunday, it is equally apparent that a minority of Newcastle players have no interest in playing for the club at all.
Obafemi Martins' refusal to even travel to Watford will surely be his final act as a Newcastle player, despite the Nigerian's impressive tally of 17 goals in his first season in the English game.
The 22-year-old, who joined the Magpies in a £10m move from Inter Milan last August, declared himself unfit on Saturday morning after learning that he would only be on the bench for the final game of the season.
Caretaker manager Nigel Pearson ordered him to accompany the rest of the squad to London and undergo a fitness test on the morning of the game, but Martins refused to travel to Vicarage Road.
His current whereabouts are unknown, although Newcastle's players were not ordered to report to the training ground yesterday morning.
He is expected to be issued with a significant fine, and Allardyce is likely to invite offers for his services this summer.
Similarly, Charles N'Zogbia is unlikely to play for Newcastle again after he too behaved abysmally at the weekend.
Unhappy at being named among the substitutes, N'Zogbia is believed to have been sending text messages on his mobile phone while the rest of the Newcastle squad listened to Pearson and coach Lee Clark deliver their pre-match tactical instructions.
He was dropped from the 16-man squad as a result, and duly walked out of Vicarage Road, only to sheepishly return in order to accompany the rest of the squad back to the North-East after the game.
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger was linked with a posle move for the Frenchman last summer, and N'Zogbia is likely to be offered to a number of Premiership clubs once the transfer window officially reopens at the start of next month.
"Everyone will start from scratch and we'll have to prove ourselves to the new manager," added Butt, "Everyone will be in the same boat, but I just hope that he sorts one or two of the lads out."
Allardyce has previously proved himself to be adept at handling troublesome personalities such as Nicolas Anelka and El-Hadji Diouf, and his anticipated interest in Manchester City bad-boy Joey Barton proves that a chequered past is not a barrier to a place in his squad.
But with the likes of Titus Bramble and Kieron Dyer also expected to leave Tyneside this summer, it is clear that a major rebuilding project appears to be the only way of re-disciplining a squad that had effectively ruled itself under Roeder.
Allardyce's arrival at St James' Park this afternoon represents a significant success for Shepherd, who identified the former Sunderland defender as his preferred choice of manager from the moment Roeder tended his resignation nine days ago.
The former Bolton boss watched Saturday's Premiership game between Bolton and Aston Villa alongside Phil Gartside, and the Trotters chairman is understood to have accepted Newcastle's offer of compensation with limited fuss.
That meant that the Newcastle board was able to confirm Allardyce's appointment to the stock exchange this morning and after a season that ended with Newcastle in 13th place in the Premiership, Butt is convinced that the former Bolton boss is capable of turning the club's fortunes around.
"If it's him then it's definitely a good capture for the club," he said.
"I'd like to play for Sam. He's a no-nonsense man.
"I know Sir Alex (Ferguson) likes him, so he must have something in management.
"He has taken Bolton high in the table, higher perhaps than they should be. Time will tell, but if he does come, we'll be very happy."
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