NUFC reporter reveals what Mike Ashley is now saying 'behind the scenes' ahead of January window

Some 'interesting' quotes have from the Chronicle's latest transfer piece, claiming that Mike Ashley has stated 'behind the scenes' that he is prepared to make SOME funds available in January - but he's insisted that he won't compete with the 'top six'.

Him making it clear that the club cannot compete with the top six sides in the Premier League is another infuriating one for a start. Tell us something we don't know , Mike!

We know we can't compete with those clubs right now on so many levels, but showing the same level of ambitions as those around us in the table would be a nice start - with it being confirmed just last week that we have the THIRD lowest wage budget in the league.

Here's the frustrating snippet from the Chronicle's latest transfer piece:

Saying there will be 'some' funds available is very vague, suggesting that there wont be a huge amount of money to spend - which is no surprise but a real worry if true given this is his last chance to convince Rafa to sign a new deal.

The report by the Chronicle states that Rafa still doesn't know his transfer budget, which is concerning as you would have thought plans for targets should already have been made - and how can he do that without a budget?

The most irritating thing about the quotes is Ashley stating that we cannot compete with top six. Now, I know many NUFC fans and not one of them expects us to compete with the top sides like City, Utd, Liverpool and Chelsea. What they do expect however, is for us to compete with the likes of Bournemouth, Watford, Fulham and Brighton to name a few, all of which have massively outspent us over the past couple of seasons.

With respect to those teams mentioned, how is it that they can find £20m+ to spend on an individual player, while we scrap around trying to negotiate deals for £4-5m players, and pulling out as they are too expensive.

Don't get me wrong, there are SOME fans that are still living in the Kevin Keegan days, and expect us to be competing at the vert top,  however most fans are realistic, and if Mike Ashley think that this isn't the case, then he is more out of touch with us fans than I ever thought.

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