Source: Northern_Echo
Investment won’t mean new signings
CHRIS HUGHTON is eager to play down suggestions that Mike Ashleys promised £20m investment in Newcastle United will strengthen the managers hand in the transfer market.[LNB] Confirmation that Hughton had agreed to become permanent manager on Tuesday night was accompanied by Ashleys reassurance that he would personally sink £20m into the clubs coffers to help secure promotion this season.[LNB] But suggestions that Hughton will be handed a significant part of that sum to recruit new players has been denied by the manager who revealed that he expects the lions share of Ashleys investment will be consumed by normal running costs, including player wages.[LNB] Following relegation from the Premier League, Hughton has overseen the departure of several of the clubs highest earners to help slash the annual wage bill from £74m to around £35m. However, it remains the highest in the Championship.[LNB] Around 120 administration and commercial staff also lost their jobs as part of the clubs summer cost-cutting programme.[LNB] Since then, the only new squad recruits sanctioned by the board have been Peter Lovekrands arrival on a free transfer and a trio of loan players.[LNB] If Newcastle supporters expected Ashleys guarantee of new funds to herald a foray into the transfer market in January then they will have been disappointed by Hughtons comments.[LNB] The figures mentioned (£20m) are figures that would have had to be invested in the club anyway because of the normal running costs with a very high wage bill.[LNB] That was expected anyway,[LNB] noted the manager.[LNB] I have been the told the club will, as much as possible, back me in my endeavours in the transfer market and in bringing in the right type of loan players. I will get support from the board.[LNB] Hughton believes that by taking the club off the market and handing the manager a permanent contract, Ashley has delivered the stability the club requires to maintain their title challenge.[LNB] Taking the club off the market is a way of looking forward, he insisted.[LNB] The sale of the club has been high in the headlines over the last year, but the fact we can now look forward and plan for the future on and off the pitch is something this club has needed.[LNB] You try not to make it a major distraction and try to focus on what happens on the football pitch. But distractions are always very much there in the domain of the players and a its certainly a better situation if you dont have that.[LNB] Newcastles ability to adapt to the rugged conditions of Championship football has taken them to the top of the table but Hughton expects a particularly stern test against perennial promotion challengers Sheffield United on Monday.[LNB] Theyve had a difficult time in recent weeks and had injury problems, but they are a Championship-hardened football club with some excellent players, he said.[LNB] They will be lifted by the game and are a very, very good team capable of being at the right end of the table at the end of the season and pushing for a promotion spot.[LNB] Defensive trio Danny Simpson, Steven Taylor and Fabricio Coloccini will all train today with a view to making the trip to Bramall Lane.[LNB]
