Naturally, they are working on bringing in a new striker as we speak - and have been for a long time, as we all know. To me, it's not a question of whether or not to pay handsomely for that striker, the owners will pay up for the right man.

Have you considered that it might still, in spite of everything, be hard to attract players from a more than decent shelf to Newcastle? Unless we want another Chris Wood, which we don't, then I don't think the type of players we really want to see here now are necessarily keen on choosing us above other offers they might receive.