The way he had been playing at Newcastle, he didn't deserve what he was after. We know he is capable of being a very good player, but hadn't shown it for a couple of seasons. Now that he's shown himself to be only interested in playing decently when his team is on top, I don't imagine Newton would have played like he did last night at any stage this year if he'd stayed at Newcastle.
Now, is it Newcastle's fault that he was playing poorly, and wasn't willing to put his head down and actually try to be anything more than pedestrian for the first half of this year? As far as I figured, if your team is doing badly, you don't just jump ship. Newcastle owed him nothing for playing like a busted arse - it's easy to suggest in hindsight that we should have thrown money at him after last night's performance, but he's not a player you want if your team is in trouble, and that's his problem.