Robson appeared shocked when asked about the comments after yesterday’s 1-0 Newcastle Gateshead Cup final defeat by Sporting Lisbon at St James’ Park, but the writing has been on the wall for some time.

That was the implication of the conversion of his rolling 12-month contract into a fixed-term one-year deal back in March, and it is understood the decision to give the former England boss one last season was taken as far back as May.

Robson has often spoken of his desire to carry on working as long as he has his health, and said just a few days ago: “I’m not going into this season thinking it will be my last as a football manager.

“My heart, my head and my legs are fine. I like what I’m doing and I feel very fit. I’m not thinking about retiring, no way. As long as I can do this job, then I’ll do it.

“I’m going into this season as excited and positive as ever. I’ve still got a bright and alert mind and I’ve still got ambitions. One of those burning ambitions is to bring silverware to Newcastle United.”

That is an ambition both manager and chairman share, but Shepherd has to look to the longer term and Robson, who will be 72 in February, is hardly the future of the club whatever his estimable qualities.

There is little doubt that the decision to dispense with his services will have been an agonising one, not least because he enjoys hero status on Tyneside after the job he has done since September 1999.

Shepherd has repeatedly described the man he appointed as a 66-year-old in the wake of Ruud Gullit’s departure as a one-off, and that is no glib remark.

He may not have brought the trophy to St James’ Park that the club has craved since 1969 – yet, anyway – but he has restored pride and transformed them from a laughing stock to, at the peak of his powers, genuine contenders for honours.

However, failure to reach last season’s Champions League and then their subsequent absence from the qualifiers this time around have have thrown the manager’s position into doubt with the chairman himself questioning the wisdom of some of his more expensive signings amid continuing talk of dressing room disharmony.

Shepherd is also understood to have played a leading role in the club’s moves for both Patrick Kluivert and Nicky Butt as he looks further ahead than next summer.

The irony is that the whole issue came to a head over the weekend which saw Gullit return to Tyneside with his Feyenoord side for a four-team tournament, a reminder of the circumstances of Robson’s arrival.

It is hardly the ideal preparation for the new season, which gets under way at Middlesbrough on August 14, and United are certain to spend the next few months at the centre of intense speculation as to who will succeed the current manager with Shepherd having hinted skipper Alan Shearer is by no means the automatic choice.

Robson’s surprise at the latest developments suggests there is much talking to be done.

For now he faces the task of restoring order and completing his team’s planning for a season which seems certain to be the last for both he and Shearer, and whatever else may happen over the next 10 months or so, signing off with a trophy would be a fitting legacy for two of the city’s most celebrated sons.