Expect more sales at Newcastle.

The departure of Andy Carroll struck a chord with most of us I feel.

There is no doubt that the money received was far in excess of Carroll's current worth, but there was something much more than cold hard cash that was signified by Carroll's transfer.

Here was a player that was the perfect advertisement for developing home-grown talent. Carroll's extraordinary rise to the top gave hope to many fans, a hope that perhaps the club was starting to slowly move in the right direction. Alas it wasn't to be, and Carroll moved on.

The price was most definitely right on this occasion, but it appears that this won't be a one-off affair. Be prepared to be disappointed and be prepared for more players to leave St James' Park in the not too distant future.

Alan Pardew was speaking about Cheik Tiote when he said this:

“Tiote is a very important player, very talented and someone we want to be a big part of our future."

This is all very standard practice when talking about Tiote as he has been absolutely fantastic since he joined the club back in August. However, I do start to worry when I read things such as this:

“I am hoping there are no bids, ­otherwise we will have a problem.”

That is not what I want to hear. In fact I'm pretty certain that nobody that follows Newcastle United will want to hear that. Why will there be a problem if a mega-money bid comes in for one of our players? Well I think we all know the reason for that now, but just in case you don't, here is a clue:

“When I became ­manager, they (Ashley and Llambias) made me aware that they wanted to get the club on a financial footing, which gives them a chance to build it. Signing young players and ­hoping they become successful in the ­Premier League is part of the policy of growing as a club."

“Now, ideally, you would like to keep someone like Andy Carroll, a young player who is from the area, but ­financially we could not keep him. But we like to think, certainly I have that ambition, that in two or three years time, if we can sustain our ­status and keep getting the TV ­money invested wisely, that we can hold off that next bid which might be for Cheik in 18 months time or so."

“We have to get ourselves in a ­position to do that because at the moment we’re not and we have to accept that.”

I really don't like the sound of that if I'm being honest. To me it sounds remarkably like the club would be willing to sell any player, which is not good in the long-run. How on earth is a team supposed to get better if it keeps on shedding itself of it's better players?

Mind you, I can't say I'm surprised. Nothing surprises me anymore at Newcastle United. Once upon a time I used to have faith and belief. I always used to be positive regarding our club, much to the irritation of some. Those positive vibes, the faith, the belief, are slowly starting to disappear.

I bet you Alan Pardew wishes that he kept his gob shut during the transfer window now, eh? Don't get me wrong, I don't blame him for anything really and feel that he was just saying what he thought was going to happen. Unfortunately he has probably had the rug pulled from under him by Mike Ashley.

I keep hearing about financial stability, which is fair enough as I don't want the club to face going out of business again, but at the end of the day I am a football fan, not an accountant. I want to see us keep our best players and try to improve and push up that Premier League table, and I'm even patient enough for it to be done slowly. I just can't see how it is going to happen now though.

Sorry for being so depressing, but it's how I feel at the moment.