Shepherd told the Evening Chronicle, "Some people are being negative about our position but I am not having any truck with that.
"We still have it all to play for and we still have a great set-up here. We are in a great position to finish fourth this season and go through to the Champions League again and we are still in the UEFA Cup and we have nothing to apologise about.
"Don't forget that when we go to Majorca next week it will be our 86th game in European competition and only half a dozen teams in the Premiership have played more than that.
"And I know a lot of other teams who would love to have the players we have got here - both in quantity and quality.
"We have the same players who did so well in the Champions League and finished third in the table last season, apart from Nobby Solano and Lomana LuaLua.
"Nobby was a great servant but he had his own reasons why he wanted to leave here and we wish him all the best - apart from when we go down to Villa Park in the middle of next month.
"Nobby's gone but we still have some great players here. But we have got to be positive.
"Geordies by nature are not negative people and if you think like a winner then you become a winner.
"I don't want any shrinking violets at St James' Park either on or off the park.
"In the past couple of weeks we have not had the rub of the green, but we don't live in the past here.
"And I don't like whingers. What has happened in the past is in the past as far as I am concerned."
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