Gutierrez: It was like a movie

Jonas Gutierrez says helping Newcastle secure Premier League survival on the final day of the season was like a movie story.

Newcastle claimed a 2-0 win over West Ham at St James' Park on Sunday to ensure it was Hull that joined QPR and Burnley in dropping down to the Championship.

Gutierrez, who experienced relegation with the Magpies in 2009, started the season battling his way back from testicular cancer, but ended it with the goal which cemented victory and Premier League safety in what seems likely to be his last game for the club with his contract due to expire at the end of next month.

"To finish like this is incredible, like a movie story. But the most important thing for me is that Newcastle next year are going to be in the Premier League,"Gutierrez told nufcTV.

"The fans, the city deserve always to be in the top flight, they don't deserve to be in the Championship. I respect the Championship because it is tough " I have played in there - but this is a massive club and they have to be always fighting to be in the top [division] and at least in the top 10."

At the end of a traumatic few months on Tyneside, it all boiled down to a tense one-off game in which only victory would guarantee survival, and it was the man with perhaps the greatest perspective in the squad following his successful battle back to health who took centre stage.

It was Gutierrez's cross which allowed fellow midfielder Moussa Sissoko to head home with 54 minutes played, and his deflected strike from distance with five minutes remaining ultimately confirmed salvation on a day when Newcastle would have been safe anyway because of Hull's failure to beat Manchester United.

"It was unbelievable. All this was like a dream,"added Gutierrez, who thanked the club's fans for their support on and off the pitch in an apparent farewell message.

He said: "Since I arrived in Newcastle, they have been fantastic. Through my illness, they were unbelievable, always sent me support, love.

"I am really proud to be a Geordie - they adopted me like a Geordie, so I have to say thanks to all the Newcastle fans because I have really enjoyed my seven years over here."