We're supposed to believe there's a wage cap at Newcastle these days and that the excesses of the past are over, but given how badly the club have done in negotiating contracts in the past you have to suspect there's still way too much money being spunked on average players. But at least it's not eye-watering amounts wasted on terrible players, as has been the case for too long at St. James' Park. According to SportingIntelligence.com, Newcastle paid the 127th highest average salary in 2012 of all major sporting teams (including NBA and Baseball super-stars), with just £26,102 on average paid to squad members. As the world is falling to financial pieces and the game is under intense scrutiny for the amount of money paid in fees and on wages to galacticos, that is not the worst thing we could hear, but the sorry realisation is that when clubs are willing to pay even £35,000, the chance of Newcastle convincing them to sign instead isn't likely to happen. After all, making a stand only ever works as long as someone else joins in, otherwise you just end up pricing yourself out of potential moves.
