United Manager Chris Hughton said:

"That is a wonderful achievement. We are realistic. We won’t get too many days like that. To score six against the likes of Aston Villa, it doesn’t come round too often. We have to get feet on the ground. It will be tough away from home next in the league. But we will spend the rest of today enjoying it.

"I watched Aston Villa last weekend and thought they were emphatic in everything they did - and we expected a tough game. But once we got the first goal it lifted any fears we might have had and after half-time we managed to keep it going.

"There was an intensity to our play but you have got to have goalscoring opportunities. We were able to go right through to the end and as it got more open it suited us more. 

"Unfortunately despite scoring twice, Kevin Nolan is in the background. We kept a clean sheet which is just as important as scoring goals. It was part of a really good team performance, there wasn't a player out there who didn't play well.

He (Andy Carroll) is still developing but what he has is great desire and aptitude to improve. He's a bit of a throwback, a local lad and he took his goals very, very well. He's developed his game, added goals to his game. Whether it is too early for England is for the England staff." 

The hat-trick hero commented:

"I just concentrate on myself. I know I can play football and score goals like I did, and that's what I go out there to do. Obviously, it's great for people to see what I can do and stuff, but I'm just happy with three points and all the lads playing like they did. 

"It was a great game and a great performance by all the lads, and getting a hat-trick in the first game of the season at home was fantastic. There were no headers in it - they were all left-footed - but really it was all about the quality of the balls that went into the box for me to score the goals.

"Last season, we didn't lose here and before the game that's what we were all talking about. We just went out like we did last season and proved a point to anybody who was doubting us. We've got to keep working hard week in, week out. I thought we were pretty unlucky against Man United, and now we're showing what we can do." 

Former number 9 & ex-manager Alan Shearer added:

"I was delighted that Andy had, if you like, the guts the take the No 9 shirt because we know that players over the years have shied away from it. It is a big responsibility because it is a huge shirt, plus there have been some big, big names that have worn the shirt and some great players at that. I am not talking about myself there. I am talking about the Milburns, the Macdonalds and the Ferdinands and other players like that.

"There were one or two positives to be taken from the Manchester United game. No one expected us to get anything but I thought that Andy Carroll played the lone striker’s role very well against Manchester United. It is hard enough playing up front on your own up front anyway when playing in that role when you are a youngster and playing at Old Trafford is very, very difficult. Chris might have looked at that and thought if we can play the same way and get up and support him on occasions that might be successful.

"It is a completely different animal to last year. Chris (Hughton) knows that you are playing better opposition this year, more quality players and forwards and teams that if you attack them can punish you. He knows as well as everyone else does – and I don’t want to disappoint too many Newcastle fans – but Newcastle have to stay in this division. That is the priority this year because it looks as though there will be no money to be spent.

"You will have to look at the opposition more this year than ever. The Premier League is full of quality. You are probably in most danger when you attack times because of the counter-attacking of many teams can damage you. The priority has to be to keep this club in the Premier League and then you can build from there. 

"It looks as though there will be no money spent of made available to the manager so he has to do with what he has. He did a very good job last year and deserves a crack at it again this season."

Villa's caretaker boss Kevin MacDonald commented:

"It was a very disappointing result. We started well and got the penalty but then Carew missed and it changed the momentum. We then got hammered. Even if we had scored it doesn't mean we would have held on and won the game but full credit to Newcastle. They took chances and played well, especially in the second half, but when you're 3-0 up it helps.

"It was probably not as high tempo as we’d have liked. Maybe that was partly because I was a bit naive in my selection for the game. I might have taken out one or two of the young lads who sort of played three games in a week. Maybe it was too much for them. “I’ll accept responsibility because it was me that chose the team. The players went out there, they don’t mean to play disappointingly, so I’ll accept that.

"I don’t think it has made any difference to me personally. It was nice last weekend that people were saying nice things about how the team had done, but this is the other side of it. I wasn’t thinking how fantastic it was then and how bad it is now. The most important thing is that I can manage to get those players back up again to try to play on Thursday night."

Maybe it was all just a dream. 

Not this scoreline, but rather the whole of our descent into madness. The fall and rise of Newcastle United - relegation and promotion, internal strife and public buffoonery - none of it ever actually happened, like Bobby Ewing in the shower. Certainly on a day like today it was possible to believe almost anything, as normal service was resumed with the most emphatic top-flight outcome seen here in over a decade. 

Things could have been very different however, had Villa's John Carew not blasted his ninth minute penalty high into the Gallowgate End. That came about when Steve Harper brought down Ashley Young in the box and referee Martin Atkinson correctly awarded the spot kick, although refraining from showing Harper a card.

One reporter even likened Carew's penalty effort to the one taken by Diana Ross at opening ceremony of the 1994 World Cup. It wasn't quite that bad, but it certainly led to a "chain reaction" (pop pickers) from the home crowd and fans, who up to that point had been snoozing.

Within three minutes United were ahead in the Tyneside sunshine and the goals then started to flow - as Villa just gradually ebbed away, in the manner of a team lacking permanent leadership and with a restless dressing room. We should know, having seen enough examples of that particular malaise two seasons ago...

At 2-0 SJP was buzzing but Kevin Macdonald's side were still in the game; with Ashley Young having seen an effort ruled out for handball at 1-0 and home debutant James Perch then making a timely close range clearance to deny the same player at 2-0.

And once Carroll had got in on the scoring act, United's questionable ploy of playing a trio of trundlers in Barton, Nolan and Smith was succeeding to such an extent that the latter made a rare foray upfield in support of Nolan, only to be shoved over on the edge of the box. 3-0 at half time, heady days indeed. 

Into the second half and with the same XI on show, Villa's re-jigged formation failed to find them a route back into the game - Emile Heskey's appearance being greeted with contempt from home fans that gave way to laughter after an early misadventure when trying to control the ball. Don't think that reaction was in some way related to England-related disappointments though, it just seemed to us because he was crap.

Had United's moustache-growing antics not prompted our headline, we'd have happily gone with "Bedsheet Brigade Battered", as Chris Hughton's side avenged the defeat that ultimately condemned them to relegation. It would be nice to think that some of the oh-so witty Villans who glorified in our demise that day were among the disconsolate travelling fans deserting their Level Seven perch in ever-increasing numbers by 4-0.

They missed a late appearance from the bench by former Magpie Habib Beye, who attracted faint applause when he began warming up, but was booed on soon after. Four then became five in the final seconds of the ninety, before that elusive sixth - and Carroll's hat trick - then arrived in added time.

Nobody sang "United are back" - the crowd were seemingly all in shock.

Carroll was irresistible and although all three strikes came with his left foot, his aerial prowess was a constant threat. For the rest, it's perhaps dangerous to read too much into this display, as the same starting XI as Hughton picked at Old Trafford faced a side who managed precisely one goal on target.  What is beyond question though is that unlike some other recent high scores, this one was all our own work - with no early red cards or goalkeeping gifts. 

This result will also have provided an injection of confidence to the side and blown a hole in any thoughts that home games would see Newcastle adopt a cautious approach and not commit numbers forward. It seems churlish to say it now, but at 1-0 we did wonder whether United would "stick or twist".

Nobody will have got more of a lift than James Perch, who looked far happier than on his debut and in focusing on doing the simple things well, looked to be more decisive than on Monday night. And for Mike Williamson to have collected his first top-flight win bonus will surely have given him a personal boost - not to mention picking up a couple of assists. 

To stress the revenge element of putting one over the Villans for the events of May 2009 is to blame them for sending us down. In reality though, relegation came about due to the decisions made and behaviour of some individuals rather closer to home. While a number are long gone though, some remain - in the Directors Box, in an Executive Box and on the field. 

On that basis, this result was the first genuine sign of atonement from the players to the fans who stuck with them and cheered, despite the lack of spirit and rank carelessness that cost us our place in the elite. 

Discount anything that happened last season, enjoyable though it was, we shouldn't have been in that bloody league in the first place. Putting those wrongs right only started today and howking the likes of Barnsley last time round don't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world, as someone once said.

8,000 empty seats here though betrayed the fact that for some, the apology came too late. Tempting those punters back in remains a challenge - making sure that this wasn't a total one-off would be a start. Shave off the whiskers if you wish lads, but those hair shirts need to be kept on for the foreseeable future. 

The healing has begun. Hopefully.

PS: Greetings to NUFC.com reader Ramon Fritschi, who came from Switzerland to make his debut at SJP.  

Biffa