Each and every Newcastle United fan, and every member of the footballing fraternity for that matter, would have been forgiven for thinking they went on the biggest collective acid trip ever witnessed as Mike Ashley inexplicably popped up on Sky Sports ahead of the West Ham game. And The Magpies' owner certainly had a lot to say that on the face of things at least looked very positive for the future of the club. He said: "I didn't envisage us being in this position at Christmas. Obviously, after the last couple of weeks I'm still a little bit shocked at where we find ourselves today. "(But) I will continue the policy of investing in the football club. "We have got the club on a very sound financial footing, so we are able to spend and punch above our weight thanks to the current financial situation the club finds itself in. "We may have the cart, financially, but we now need to bolt the horse on, and we are going to." When quizzed about his intentions for the future, Ashley said: "To definitely win something and, by the way, I won't be selling (the Club) until I do. "(The club is not for sale) at any price. And when I say 'win something', if we ever get into a position of being in a Champions League place, that also counts as winning something. "From this day forward we will be making our own luck." It's all a case of too little too late for Ashley, who has openly lied and deceived Newcastle fans for much of his eight years in NE1. So much so that quite literally no one believes a word that comes out of St James' Park anymore. As Kevin Keegan so famously put it, there's no trust between supporter and board anymore. Only time will tell with this one but one thing that is for sure is that Mike has backed himself into a corner. He can't think that Newcastle's business last summer is the yard-stick for this summers'. Yes United spent £34 million. But £34 mill on cheaper replacements for better players that had departed the club some time before. Only Daryl Janmaat coming into replace Mathieu Debuchy could have been looked at as any step up in quality. This summer, they need to keep what they have and then add to it. Substantially. The squad as it stands simply isn't strong enough and needs to be bolstered in Newcastle are to come even remotely close to winning something. Mike needs to be willing to lose a lot of that lovely television money that has just come into the club following their great escape of sorts on Sunday. For all the latest NUFC News, Views and Transfers make sure to follow WhatCultureNUFC on Twitter and Facebook.
