It’s crunch time for Magpies

NEWCASTLE boss Graeme Souness has admitted that the next four days hold the key to the club’s season.

Speaking as he prepared to put his side through their paces at the Jose Alvalade Stadium ahead of tonight's UEFA Cup quarter-final clash with Sporting Lisbon, Souness had little doubt about what is at stake both in Portugal and in Sunday's FA Cup semi-final against Manchester United at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium.

"It is going to be an enormous four days," he said. "Just after 10pm tomorrow night, we could be sitting in the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup feeling extremely confident about Sunday or it could be a case of picking ourselves up.