NEWCASTLE UNITED players made an ultimately appropriate choice when selecting their dressing room theme tune for this season last summer.
'Dignity', by Deacon Blue, is exactly what has been restored to the club after a tremendous title-winning campaign of 30 wins, 90 goals and 102 points.
Other notable achievements included:
*The only unbeaten home record in English professional football in 2009-10, and something not done at St James Park since 1906-07,
*Records in the Championship for the highest single attendance (52,181) and the highest average attendance (43,384)
*A club record for the number of clean sheets (22) in a season, and
*A club record unbeaten run of 17 games which lasted until the end of the season, beating the previous record of 15, also made during 2009-10.
There were 17 different scorers in the league with four players reaching double figures. Andy Carroll and Kevin Nolan were joint-top league scorers with 17 goals, and local lad Carroll was the overall top scorer with 19 league and cup goals.
The success is a far cry from the bitter taste left by relegation which prompted me to write a scathing post about the ills of the club almost 12 months ago.
A troubled pre-season had done little to lift to gloom over Tyneside. On the field, a brawl at Huddersfield Town was followed by a 6-1 drubbing at Leyton Orient which led to certain senior players taking charge of the dressing room.
Off the field, owner Mike Ashley had put the club up for sale for a second time, and he was refusing to speak to Alan Shearer over the club legend's wish to become manager.
It was undertstandable, then, that Newcastle fans approached the club's first season in the second tier since 1992-93 with some trepidation.
A good start was vital but even the fixtures computer seemed to lack much sympathy, sending United to the Hawthorns for an opening day against West Bromwich Albion.
The Baggies may have finished below United in the previous season's Premier League but only just. Also, as a yo-yo club, they were far better prepared to deal with the pain of relegation.
The BBC cameras were rolling but the country failed to witness a Newcastle meltdown, as Damien Duff's equaliser was enough to secure a 1-1 draw.
Shortly afterwards, Duff signed for Fulham for £2.5m. But, while Oba Martins and Michael Owen also unsurprisingly departed, United had retained, relatively speaking, a strong squad for the division.
One player who seemed to have found his level was Shola Ameobi and he scored his first senior hat-trick in Newcastle's first home game against Reading, a 3-0 win.
Ameobi struck again four days later at home against Sheffield Wednesday for the only goal of the game.
Three days later, and United had their first away win since February as goals inside the first 20 minutes from Ryan Taylor and Nolan were enough to beat Crystal Palace at Selhurt Park.
And, after coming from 3-1 behind to beat Huddersfield 4-3 in the League Cup, Newcastle confirmed their good start to the season, moving top of the league with a 1-0 win over Leicester City.
Danny Guthrie scored the only goal of a game played in torrential rain on the night of the August Bank Holiday while injuries forced 18-year-old Nile Ranger to lead the line as a sole striker.
The first international break appeared to have come at an unfortunate time for United who were building up a head of steam with five league and cup wins in a row.
But, on their return, Chris Hughton's men ground out an impressive 1-0 win at Cardiff City as Argentine defender Fabricio Coloccini scored his first for club with a header.
After the goal on 18 minutes, United were forced on the back-foot for long periods but displayed a tenacity and ruthlessness which would become a trademark of many away performances.
Not at Blackpool, though. United suffered the first defeat of the season at Bloomfield Road despite Carroll having given the Magpies the lead against the run-of-play.
Brett Ormerod struck on half-time and Jason Euell midway through the second half to give the Seasiders a deserved 2-1 win.
But the response from Newcastle was immediate as Plymouth Argyle were brushed aside 3-1, despite briefly holding parity at St James.
Steven Taylor had given United an early lead before Karl Duguid equalised early in the second half.
That seemed to wake Newcastle up as Nolan and Carroll scored for an ultimately comfortable win against the league's then-bottom side.
A midweek 2-0 loss in the League Cup to Peterborough featured mainly reserve players with the first-team held back for what would be an emotional match against Ipswich Town.
It came just a matter of weeks after the death of Sir Bobby Robson and he surely would have smiled from above at the swagger displayed by Newcastle in a 4-0 away win.
The contest had been fairly even in the first half an hour but a three-goal blast - two from Nolan and one from Ryan Taylor - in the space of five minutes put United in complete control.
Early in the second half, Nolan completed his first Newcastle hat trick, prompting a party in the away end in Suffolk.
Little did United fans know then that it would be another month before the team won again as the Magpies suffered their first proper blip.
First, United could only draw with Queens Park Rangers who became the first visiting team to take the lead at St James Park in 2009-10 when Ben Watson scored on seven minutes.
Loan signing Marlon Harewood ensured Newcastle retained their unbeaten home record with an equaliser on his home debut.
A second home draw followed four days later as United did everything but score in a 0-0 draw against Bristol City.
The four dropped points from two home games seemed to dent the Newcastle players' confidence and the 1-0 loss at in-form Nottingham Forest was a predictable outcome.
It got worse four days later as, despite Nolan's equaliser, United lost 2-1 at Scunthorpe United to make it just two points from 12.
At least, Newcastle were back at St James Park for the next game against Doncaster Rovers. But home advantage seemed to count for little and Rovers took the lead through Dean Shiels.
To the relief of another 40,000+ crowd, Carroll scored an equaliser midway through the second half but Zurab Khizanishvili's sending off seemed to end all hope of a first win in five.
That was until Nolan popped up with a priceless winner, hitting the net with a low shot in-off the post from just outside the box.
It was truly a vital three points from United, shaking them from their poor form and becoming the first of a run of seven successive wins.
Almost identikit 1-0 away wins against Sheffield United and Preston North End, where Nolan scored yet another winner, came either side of a 3-1 revenge win over Peterborough.
Jonas Gutierrez scored his first goal for the club against Posh but declined to display his Spiderman mask.
Carroll made it two inside 20 minutes before right-back Danny Simpson made it three early in the second half.
Dean Keates scored a consolation for Posh with ten minutes left but it was not enough to save Darren Ferguson from the sack.
United next home against Swansea City was meant to be a much tougher exercise but the Welsh opponents were blown away inside half an hour in a 3-0 win.
Harewood struck twice and Peter Lovenkrands scored the first goal of his second spell having re-signed for the club after finding no offers of gainful employment elsewhere.
Lovenkrands was at it again the following Saturday in a 2-0 home win against Watford, but the game is most memorable for Fabrice Pancrate's fabulous introduction to English football.
Going into the last 10 minutes and still leading 1-0, but without Nolan who had been sent off, sub Pancrate turned on a sixpence and fired a high shot into the net via the crossbar.
It ensured no doubt about that result and sent Newcastle to Coventry in high spirits. There, Ranger hit his first senior goal to seal a routine 2-0 win after Ameobi had scored in first half stoppage time.
That made it seven wins on the spin for Hughton's men who enjoyed a seven-point gap to second-placed West Brom and a gap of 12 points to Cardiff and Forest in mid-December.
The run came to an end at Barnsley in an entertaining festive encounter but only after Newcastle gave away the lead twice, failing to hold out with three minutes left on the second occasion.
Nolan's sixth-minute strike had been equalised early in the second half but the winning streak looked set to continue when Harewood scored with 12 minutes left until the late sting in the tail.
At least, in Middlesbrough, Newcastle found their opponents providing a goodwill gesture in keeping with the season as the Teessiders produced an insipid performance at St James Park.
Goals from Harewood and Ameobi made this one of the easiest 2-0 victories in a Tyne-Tees match that the Magpies will ever have.
But, Sheffield Wednesday on Boxing Day was another matter altogether.
Scrapping at the bottom, the Owls matched United in a 2-2 draw at Hillsborough as Newcastle fans were forced to travel for an eighth successive St Stephen's Day.
A Luke Varney header had given Wednesday a deserved lead after 15 minutes before United scored with their first two attacks through Nolan and Ameobi.
But a second successive 2-1 lead in South Yorkshire was given away in the second half when James O'Connor out-muscled Steve Harper on the hour mark.
Successive 0-0 draws followed - in the league at home against Derby County and in the FA Cup away at Plymouth before Reading away was postponed due to heavy snow.
The two nil-nils made it four draws in five games since the Coventry game in mid-December and the lead had been cut by Forest in second place to two points, although United had two games in hand.
Plymouth were sent packing in the Cup as Lovenkrands scored a 'perfect' hat-trick in a 3-0 win to send the Pilgrims to their second defeat at St James after the league win in September.
But all eyes were focused on the home league clash with West Brom who were six points behind in third. This was also one of those games in hand on Forest.
Perhaps unsurprisingly with the way things had gone recently, the match ended in yet another draw, a 2-2, but this time United were happy enough with that.
The visitors had twice taken the lead in a open match played at a much higher tempo than many other Championship games.
You could see why these were two sides vying for promotion back to the top flight but Newcastle were the happier of the two, having had to play catch-up.
First, Jonas Olsson was given too much space to prod home from six yards on 13 minutes before a Guthrie free-kick left Scott Carson rooted and got United back on terms at half time.
Within seconds of the restart, it was 2-1 to the Baggies as Roman Bednar took advantage of more slack defending to score with a diving header.
Thankfully, Newcastle equalised again as Lovenkrands scored with just 18 minutes left and, while it was a big goal for United, it was an even bigger one for the Dane.
Having made a late decision to play following the death of his father days before, an emotional Lovenkrands raised a finger and looked to the skies in tribute, before being surrounded by team mates.
As luck would have it, West Brom were back on the fixture list straightaway after the fourth round Cup draw had paired the teams at the Hawthorns.
After two draws in the league, Albion finally got the better of Newcastle, 4-2, but perhaps only because Graham Dorrans had been allowed to slot away two contentious penalties.
Olsson had again given West Brom the lead before the first of Dorrans' penalties despite Tamas Kadar's tackle taking place outside the box.
Into the second half, Newcastle got back into the game after Gutierrez set up Carroll for his first goal in two months before Dorrans' second penalty.
This time, Newcastle's disgruntlement surrounded the fact that Ameobi had been denied a clear penalty moments before Albion marched up the other end and won one of their own.
Jerome Thomas added insult to injury before Carroll got his second of the match as mere consolation.
At least, United were back in league action within four days and forgot about their Cup exit with their second 2-0 win of the season over Crystal Palace.
Newcastle had been gifted the opener on 13 minutes when Shaun Derry hooked a clearance into his own net.
But, this was no classic and the Magpies had to wait until stoppage time to add a second through Ranger after new signing Wayne Routledge set him up.
Next, an uneventful 0-0 draw at Leicester on a cold January night was a match so bad that barely anything memorable about it springs to mind.
Needless to say, Newcastle were due a performance and it came against Cardiff City.
Just like their Welsh neighbours Swansea in November, the Bluebirds were blown away in the first 15 minutes with two goals from Carroll either side of an own goal after Carroll had hit the post.
This time, United added to their score with two goals from Lovenkrands in the second half before a late Cardiff consolation. Full time - 5-1.
Yet, if Newcastle had taken any confidence from the big result, it did not show once Hughton's men got back on their travels.
In the worst week of the season, United lost 3-0 at bogey team Derby before a 1-1 draw at Swansea which was barely any better.
The Swans deserved to win by a comfortable margin but only had David Cotterill's early second half strike to show for their efforts.
Paulo Sousa's notoriously goal-shy team were made to pay for their profligacy when Carroll rescued a point with a towering header three minutes from time.
Back at St James and United enjoyed home comforts a lot more with successive three-goal wins over midtable plodders Coventry City and Preston North End.
Coventry actually had the temerity to take the lead through Clinton Morrison but it was completely against the run of play and United were soon back level.
A delicious volley by Routledge gave him his maiden Toon goal and capped a man-of-the-match performance from the tricky winger.
United took control in the second half as goals from Carroll, Lovenkrands and Ryan Taylor in stoppage time put the result beyond doubt.
Preston were dispatched still more easily with Lovenkrands scoring after just three minutes.
Nolan scored his first goal of the calendar year on 55 minutes before Ryan Taylor scored another stoppage time third.
United also struck early in each half at Vicarage Road to overcome struggling Watford 2-1 in a battling performance.
Coloccini scored his second goal for the club on four minutes and Carroll added a second on 50 before Will Hoskins ensured a nervy end to a professional performance.
Newcastle held firm in stoppage time for their first away win in eight league and cup matches since beating Coventry in December.
Having got back to winning ways on the road, United returned home to deliver their biggest win of the season against unfortunate Barnsley.
United had dominated their Yorkshire opponents in the first half but had struggled to make a breakthrough until Tykes keeper Luke Steele brought down Lovenkrands in the box.
Steele was slightly harshly sent off and sub keeper David Preece's first job was to pick the ball out of the net, something which he did repeatedly for the rest of his afternoon.
After Lovenkrands' penalty made it 1-0 to United at half time, the Dane scored a second early in the second half.
Then, there were further goals followed from Guthrie, Gutierrez, Guthrie again and Nolan in a pulsating period of 23 minutes which still left 20 minutes to play.
Rarely had I seen United so threatening against opponents short of a man. Barnsley fans may have a right to dispute the red card, but it really could have been more than six.
In the end, United had to settle for 6-1, as Daniel Bogdanovic scored a consolation that was barely noticed, and the smell of promotion began to fill the warm, spring air.
However, Hughton ensured feet stayed firmly on the ground ahead of the second Tyne-Tees match of the season, this time at the Riverside.
By all account, Middlesbrough had the better of the match and led with just 15 minutes left after Scott McDonald and Barry Robson had overturned Lovenkrands early goal.
But Boro did not take into consideration Carroll's handy knack of scoring late equalisers and the Gateshead lad delivered again with eight minutes left.
Carroll then enjoyed his best home game since Cardiff, scoring twice in a routine 3-0 home win against Scunthorpe United.
Lovenkrands scored the other goal in between Carroll's strikes as United set themselves up well ahead of two away trips to Bristol City and Doncaster.
The Robins really gave Newcastle a game and led 2-0 at half time leaving Hughton with much to do.
But an injection of pace down both flanks courtesy of Gutierrez and Routledge helped and Newcastle finally forced their way back into the game with 20 minutes left.
Gutierrez scored his third of the season before Carroll's trademark away strike left the Magpies with enough time to force a winner.
That did not come, but it did not make the point gained feel any less valuable.
The second away game in four days at Doncaster came after reports that Carroll had broken Steven Taylor's jaw in a training-ground bust-up.
With promotion still not assured, this was unwanted news, the kind of which United had done well to avoid throughout the season.
Hughton was forced into a big call and Carroll travelled with the team. Not only that but he scored the winner on the hour mark before being mobbed in celebration by team-mates.
That seemed to confirm that the squad's excellent team spirit had not been much dented although comments from Taylor or the club were not forthcoming.
It left a slightly sour taste in the mouth although it was sweetened by relief that, for once, the club did not wash its dirty laundry in public.
Fate intervened anyway to ensure Carroll would only have a bit-part in the next major chapter of the season - a big home match against Nottingham Forest.
Forest had made a real promotion push over the winter but poor away form in February and March meant they had dropped ten points off the pace though they still lay in third.
Billy Davies' men were certainly more enterprising than most who visited St James but United finished the stronger after Carroll went off injured for Ameobi.
First, the gangly striker gave Newcastle the lead with a quick turn-and-hit which went in-off the post, leaving Lee Camp in the Forest goal flat-footed.
Another moment of quality wrapped up a 2-0 win in stoppage time as Ameobi back-heeled the ball perfectly into Jose Enrique's path for the Spaniard to slam home his first ever career goal.
United were potentially within a win of promotion but were made to wait by Forest, despite a 3-2 win against Peterborough.
Not for the first time this season, the Magpies made hard-work of dispatching Posh who took the lead through Dominic Green.
Goals either side of half time from Nolan and Joey Barton before a further strike from Ameobi on the hour seemed to put United in control.
Liam Dickinson ensured a nervy end but United held out only to find that Forest had stopped their losing away run with a draw at Bristol City, which was good enough to deny Newcastle promotion.
But Newcastle did not need to wait for long. Indeed, they were promoted on Easter Monday without kicking a ball after Forest could only get another draw against Cardiff.
Newcastle still had a match to play that evening against Sheffield United and the Blades looked set to be party-poopers after Richard Cresswell gave them the lead.
The Magpies struggled to find any rhythm but they were given a lifeline on half-time when Chris Morgan, who had scored an own goal in the 1-0 win at Bramall Lane, fouled Carroll.
Lovenkrands fired home the resultant penalty and Newcastle found the going easier in the second half.
A 2-1 win against the Blades was completed by a spectacular scissor-kick goal at the Gallowgate End by Nolan, later to be unveiled as the Championship's player of the season.
It was a phenomenal way to celebrate promotion back to the top flight at the first attempt.
Newcastle's next targets were to win the league and stay unbeaten at home. Both objectives were aided in another easy home win, 4-1 against Blackpool.
Gutierrez gave United the lead after just 12 minutes with his fourth of the season before Carroll doubled it with a header for a 2-0 half-time lead.
Nolan benefited from generous defending to make it 3-0 before sub Ameobi immediately set up Routledge for the fourth.
Only Brett Ormerod's goal spoiled the day as the veteran striker scored his second against Newcastle, having also scored in their 2-1 home win in September.
A sixth successive win came at the Madejski Stadium in Reading in a match that was played at the third time of asking after postponements for the weather and the Royals' cup run.
Nolan was the star performer with two first-half goals and, in the second half, only the width of a post denied him a second hat-trick of the season.
United defended deep and soaked up a lot of pressure until the hosts gained a chance of salvaing a point after Enrique slammed his clearance off Simpson's backside into the net.
Once again, though, Newcastle held on for a single-goal away win, a 10th on the road for the season.
Ten became 11 as United wrapped up the title with a 2-0 win that relegated Plymouth in the fourth meeting of the season between the sides.
Two goals in ten first-half minutes from Carroll and Routledge were enough to overcome the spirited Pilgrims who had some great chances but lacked a killer instinct up front.
Carroll inevitably scored from a header as United began to exert some pressure after a quiet first 20 minutes.
The second goal followed shortly afterwards and it will be long-remembered. Not only because it sealed the league but also for its quality as Barton slipped in Routledge for a cool finish reminscent of David Kelly's title-winning goal against Grimsby in 1993.
Newcastle received the Championship trophy after their final home game against Ipswich in front of a full house at St James Park.
Roy Keane's men tried to spoil the party, and came away with a 2-2 draw, but the point ensured United maintained a season-long unbeaten home record.
Not that the record was in much danger of being lost to the Tractor Boys. Newcastle took the lead on 26 minutes when Carroll placed a wonderful header from Routledge's cross but Conor Wickham levelled the scores just before half-time.
A second half devoid of action followed until Nicky Butt, making his last appearance in United colours, won a penalty which Ameobi converted.
Newcastle were denied a 19th home league win of the season by Jon Walters' strike deep into the stoppage time but even that goal could not prevent a party atmosphere at the cup presentation.
Finally, Hughton's men completed the season with a 1-0 win at Queens Park Rangers, the eighth win out of nine and a club-record fifth successive away win.
Former United defender Peter Ramage was sent off for hauling down Ameobi but it took a while before Newcastle made use of their one-man advantage.
Indeed, the match was meandering towards a 0-0 draw until Lovenkrands prevented it with a fine strike with 20 minutes left.
A winning note to end on, then, for United who spent most of the season winning games - 32 of them in league and cup, in fact.
Not all of them have been pretty, especially those in the first half of the season.
But a never-say-die attitude mixed with hints of quality and a ruthlessness rarely seen recently in these parts ensured this dip into the second flight of English football could be enjoyed rather than endured.
An incredibly tough season back in the Premier League awaits Newcastle - there will be more defeats, for sure - and the squad will need to be strengthened.
For now, though, Newcastle fans can bask in this set of players giving something back restoring one of the values most cherished by all football fans. Dignity.
Match stats and scorers courtesy of NUFC.com
League table stats courtesy of Statto.com
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