Newcastle United players Paul Dummett and Jamal Lascelles were left "gutted" after the club were relegated from the Premier League.
Newcastle were confined to the drop on Wednesday without kicking a ball following Sunderland's 3-0 win over Everton at the Stadium of Light.
With just one game left in the season, Newcastle sit 18th in the table - four points behind 17th-placed Sunderland.
It is just the second time Newcastle have been relegated in the Premier League era after they also faced the drop in 2008-09, however they achieved immediate promotion by winning the Championship the following season.
Dummett - who came through the Newcastle youth academy - was left disappointed by the news but insisted the club will make a return to the top-tier of English football, writing via Twitter: "Absolutely gutted. We will be back."
Newcastle team-mate Lascelles - who came to prominence in the second-half of the season with a number of consecutive starts - also posted some words of encouragement to the fans via his Twitter account, saying: "Absolutely gutted! But we have to pick up and start again to come back stronger."
