Newcastle winger Damien Duff admits some of his team-mates at Newcastle did not care if the club got relegated to the Championship. Duff, who is prepared to stay at St James’ Park, wants Alan Shearer to be appointed manager and believes the man who took them down clearly knows which players were not putting in a shift to keep them in the top flight.

“There will obviously be a massive clear-out, there are budgets in the Championship and also I’m sure the gaffer knows who cares about the club and who stays, who’s going work to get out of the Championship,” Duff said. “He knows that already.

“There is only one man to get us back up and that is Alan Shearer. I’m sure it’ll be him and I’m sure he’ll take the job.”

With Duff admitting Newcastle will have to take budgets into consideration, his situation could become uncertain as he is a high earner — but he is adamant he wants to stay.

“From a Newcastle point of view, the aim is to come straight back up,” the 30-year-old said. “They belong in the Premier League so it is just one season in the Championship hopefully.

“I haven’t really looked into it but I’ve done two years in the Championship before with Blackburn. Why not?”

Republic of Ireland boss Giovanni Trapattoni has hinted that a stint in the second tier of English football would not harm Duff’s international hopes.

Trapattoni said: “He is a great player and the great players are great players, in Ireland, in Newcastle, yesterday or tomorrow.”

With the possibility of a World Cup next year, Duff will be reassured by Trapattoni’s approach.

Ireland can take a huge stride towards at least a play-off to reach South Africa if they get a result against Bulgaria in Sofia on Saturday. They warmed up for the trip with a draw against Nigeria at Craven Cottage, with goalkeeper Keiren Westwood among six players making their debuts.

“He’s a very good goalkeeper and has impressed me in training,” said first-choice stopper Shay Given. “He’ll be the future Irish goalkeeper, for sure, pushing harder in the next couple of years and then after that I’m sure he’ll get the mantle.”

Westwood, however, feels Given has plenty of time left at the top.

The Coventry youngster said: “Shay is a personal hero of mine and for him to say that makes my day, but he’s got another 10 years left. I’m just proud to be in the squad.”

Trapattoni needs to check on the fitness of Darron Gibson and Caleb Folan ahead of the Sofia trip.

Kevin Foley picked up a knock against Nigeria but thankfully for Trapattoni there were no serious injuries concerns, although he will need to call up a goalkeeper as Dean Kiely withdrew from the squad.

“After a bit of a rest over the weekend, we’ll start building up towards the Bulgaria game,” said Blackburn midfielder Keith Andrews.