GRAHAM TAYLOR once called managing England the impossible job but he never tried taking charge of Newcastle United, a club that look likely to turn one of their favourite sons into a basket case by the end of the season. Any hopes that Alan Shearer’s so-called messianic qualities would transform a team heading for relegation to the Championship have been cruelly exposed after just two matches, even though they grabbed a late equaliser from substitute Andy Carroll that they scarcely deserved.

Six games remain before Shearer returns to the comfort of the Match of the Day sofa, which he might already regret swapping for a dugout seat that he has so far never felt relaxed enough to sit in. The only consolation, apart from a point, was that his team kept going when could have been thrashed.

They remain in the bottom three, still two points from safety and, despite the cock-eyed optimism that everything will somehow be all right, they have now won just once in 14 games. That optimism remains the only permanent fixture at a dangerously volatile club who have had three managers this season, including two Messiahs, and two caretaker spells by coach Chris Hughton.

It says everything about the shambles Shearer found at Newcastle that he has been lauded for enforcing such basic values as punctuality and smartness on his players, as well as insisting that they eat together after training. He has also reintroduced ice baths, though they did precious little for the team’s results under Sam Allardyce.

What really gets players’ attention, however, is discovering that they have been left in the cold when the team sheet goes up, which was the fate of Fabricio Coloccini and Jonas Gutierrez as Shearer attempted to shape the team more in his own image.

He said: “I am asking the team to be brave so we’ve got to be brave in making changes when we need to. It was a towering header from Andy Carroll. He’s made a point and we need everyone to do that if we’re going to survive. The attitude of the players has been great and we showed that by the way we reacted to their goal. On too many occasions this season, when Newcastle have gone behind, they have crumbled.”

Stoke’s manager, Tony Pulis, said he was “bitterly disappointed” to be denied a ninth home win, which would have been the same number as Chelsea, but his team may need only another point or two to secure their Premier League place with three games left at the Britannia stadium, which is surrounded by streets named after all time heroes like George Eastham, Gordon Banks and Sir Stanley Matthews.

As a staying-up present, they might consider adding a fly-over named after Rory Delap after the long-throw tactic that has led to so many of their goals this season and which unhinged Newcastle on two or three occasions. Pulis added, perhaps for the benefit of Newcastle fans: “Let no-one be kidded, we were the better team today. We had loads and loads of opportunities at the start of the second half and if one of those had gone in, we would have won comfortably.”

Despite another rebuilt back four, central defence once again proved the soft underbelly of Newcastle, old boy Abdoulaye Faye being left unmarked to head home Liam Lawrence’s corner after 33rd minutes. The visitors’ pain was aggravated because a goal kick, not a corner, should have been awarded. Soon after, from another Lawrence corner, Ricardo Fuller’s header was brilliantly pushed away by Steve Harper.

Newcastle, who were dire in the first 45 minutes, came out for the second half a good two or three minutes before Stoke but City were ready to carry on where they had left off, pouring forward and being denied a second goal only by Sebastien Bassong’s goalline clearance from James Beattie’s header. Shearer retreated into his dugout for a lengthy discussion with assistants Iain Dowie and Hughton.

He soon came running out again as a tackle by Andy Wilkinson on Danny Guthrie nearly led to a mass brawl, Shearer making a stamping motion to indicate what he thought of the challenge.

Faye was outstanding in Stoke’s defence when Newcastle did attack but a moment’s lapse by the back four allowed Carroll to score. Seeing a Tyneside-born centre-forward heading home an important goal was at least one piece of symbolism from which Shearer can take heart.

STOKE CITY: Sorensen 6, Wilkinson 6, Shawcross 6, Abdoulaye Faye 8, Higginbotham 6, Lawrence 7, Delap 7, Whelan 7, Etherington 6 (Pugh 80min), Beattie 6 (Cresswell 73min), Fuller 6

NEWCASTLE: Harper6, R Taylor 6, Beye 6, Edgar 6, Bassong 6, Guthrie 6 (Guttierez 63min), Nolan 6, Butt, Duff 6, Ameobi 5 (Carroll 70min), Owen 5