It's all about money £££

One of the overarching reasons that we were unable to kick on this season is attracting players, and whatever people say about players not wanting to relocate to the North of England, or play for Newcastle or any other reason given, 9 times out of 10 it will be the wages that entices a player to move.

Last season was a huge success (a lot of good fortune to get Champions League football), but it made the footballing side of Newcastle appealing to potential players, and to cement European football for another season we have to get those higher level players, and this goes hand in hand with he who shall not be named leaving us, it is nearly always for the money.

It doesn't take long to look at www.capology.com to see that based on wages we should sit 8th in the Premier League, which shows just how well Eddie Howe has done with the squad that we have to get Champions League twice and win a League Cup. Our highest paid player is Bruno G, a player who has earned to right to get a contract the size that he does, but he is the 46th highest paid player in the Premier League. We have a few not too far behind who are sitting on a pretty £150K a week, which seems to be around our maximum to pay the key players in the squad.

When you look at how many players other teams have that earn the same or more than our highest earner and you realise how far we still have to go, Man City with 13, Arsenal 10, Liverpool 7, Man Utd 6, Chelsea 5 and even Spurs have 3 players over the £150k mark.

All this was very evident in the summer with players who we thought we were about to sign, choosing alternative destinations, and until we drastically improve our revenue we will be searching the continent for players, or trying to attract players that our below us in the wages league table.

This project will take time, the foundations are there, the fan base is most certainly already there, we just need the balance sheet to catch up.