By Dan King - Newcastle United Club Reporter

Paul Robinson, the striker famously preferred to Alan Shearer in the Tyne-Wear derby defeat which cost Ruud Gullit his job, has joined Northern League outfit Newton Aycliffe.

Now 33, Robinson is best known for starting against Sunderland in a rain-affected loss to Sunderland in 1999 while Shearer and Ferguson looked on from the bench but he did make 15 more appearances for the Magpies as well as scoring regularly for the Reserves.

He arrived at St. James' Park from Darlington, alongside James Coppinger, in 1997, and scored once - against CSKA Sofia in the UEFA Cup - before joining Wimbledon for £1.5m in 2000.

But that move never worked out and he went on to play for Blackpool, Hartlepool, York and Torquay before drifting out of the professional game and playing for a host of non-league sides from Chesham United to Didcot Colliery to Jarrow Roofing.