Newcastle boss John Carver says he can take supporters’ criticism after his side slumped to their worst run of top-flight form in 38 years.

A 3-2 defeat by Swansea made it seven straight defeats for the Magpies, who now sit five points above the Premier League relegation zone.

Carver was confronted by angry home fans during the club’s lowest attended game of the season.

“Yes, I’m getting stick from the crowd and I can take all that,” Carver said.

“I’ll take that on the chin. I’ll explain to people why I do things, I don’t have a problem with that.

“If anybody wants to talk to me about it, I will talk to them about it. But I won’t give up on it and I will fight to the end.”

Newcastle’s plight was made worse as fellow relegation rivals Leicester and Hull City won, while QPR and Sunderland drew, on Saturday.

Newcastle fans show their frustration to Carver with some also protesting against owner Mike Ashley

Hartson has hope for Newcastle

Former Wales striker John Hartson on Final Score: “Newcastle are already on 35 points. You wonder whether the bottom three will reach 35 points. There are only four or five games to go – if there were more games I would worry about Newcastle. But they will just about be ok.”

Prior to the match, a

small group of supporters were photographed 

protesting outside one of the Ashley-owned Sports Direct stores in Newcastle.

And during the game, fans were seen waving red fliers and ‘Ashley Out’ signs in the 34th minute of the match to signify the amount – in millions of pounds – that the owner is alleged to have in the bank.

They claim that Ashley has shown a lack of ambition in attempting to improve the club’s status and want to see that money spent on players.

Last Sunday’s attendance of 47,427 at St James’ Park during the

3-1 defeat by Tottenham

was affected by a supporter boycott with many seats left empty.

But Match of the Day commentator John Roder said there appeared to be more Newcastle fans watching against Swansea.

The new season low of 46,884 was likely shaped by fewer away fans attending the game than the previous weekend. The capacity at St James’ Park is 52,338.

Despite the unrest at a club which finished 10th in the Premier League last season, Carver was determined to arrest his team’s slump in form.

And he pointed to a first Newcastle goal from Dutch striker Siem de Jong, who returned from a punctured lung and other injuries which have kept him sidelined since last August, as a sign his team could work their way out of trouble.

Newcastle travel to Leicester next Saturday before facing West Brom, QPR and West Ham in their final three games.

“We knew we were in a little bit of a fight and we certainly are now after results today,” the 50-year-old told BBC Sport. “We have to take care of our own business.

“I said before the game that talk is cheap, it’s time for action. We saw some today but we need more.”