Jonas Gutierrez is pleased to have secured promotion as he can now focus on this summer's World Cup.
Magpies winger can start preparing for a summer in South Africa
Jonas Gutierrez is pleased to have secured promotion as he can now focus on this summer's World Cup.
The Newcastle winger celebrated making an immediate return to the Premier League on Monday, with the Magpies guaranteed to be plying their trade in the top flight again next term.
Nottingham Forest's failure to see off Cardiff meant Chris Hughton's men were assured of a top-two finish even before they saw off Sheffield United 2-1 at St James' Park.
Gutierrez is delighted to have wrapped things up so quickly as he is set to be among those heading to South Africa in June.
Despite being forced to spend the season battling away in the second tier of English football, the Argentine ace has already been assured of his involvement at the World Cup finals by national coach Diego Maradona.
"Diego helped to calm me down when Newcastle slipped into the second division last season," said Gutierrez.
Recharge batteries
"He said he didn't care which division I was playing in as the most important thing to him is to have players playing well.
"That was very important to me because I knew Newcastle weren't going to let me join another team.
"Now I can relax, at least a little bit.
"We needed to finish in first or second place to get automatic promotion and that is what we have done.
"If we had finished between third and sixth we would have had to go into the play-offs and my season would have ended very close to the World Cup.
"Now I have time to charge my batteries for the World Cup and that is what I have always wanted and needed."
