The Lid's Coming Off The Boiling Pot

The pot has always simmered away with the many mistakes or antics that have went on at St James' Park but time after time an event or good result has kept that lid on.

The threat of it coming off has always remained though and recent events have released a rush of steam with the lid promising to blow off in January at the very latest.

The main reason for the pent up frustration is because we are being treat like we're stupid and have been for years with Alan Pardew the main person given the job of spouting the unnecessary talk.

Contradictory mentions of being happy with the squad we have in August and unhappy with it in November don't add up.

Failure to sort out contracts for those who want a raise but still playing the rebels in question another.

Going into a season which promised so much without strengthening but releasing or selling a handful yet another.....

I can go on and on but there's no need as it's been well documented.

A lot of us have supported the club all of our lives, 40 years or so but others even longer and to be told the many cliches of where we are and why we can't spend etc, just causes the pressure to build in the pot.

Today's opponents, Southampton, spent £27 million in the Summer on new recruits and we spent about £1 million Net.

Talk of not being able to get one over the line or a team of moving the goalposts just isn't going to wash anymore.

There's no reason why we shouldn't be able to spend whilst the likes of West Ham, Swansea, QPR, Southampton have on regular occurrences.

We do after all have the 3rd biggest gate in England. A nice little sponsorship deal, loads of TV money and a corporate area surely as big as anyone outside the top 4 not to mention a wage bill which is one of the most manageable around.

So, maybe a bit more than pocketing the cash?

The more you delve into other teams figures, the more scandalous it gets.

Stoke for example have a Net spend of £75 million over the past 5 seasons.

Aston Villa £70 million, QPR £46 million, the Mackems £36 million, then West Ham, Southampton, Norwich, WBA and Fulham have all spent money ranging from £13 - £26 million Net and guess what ours is.

A £36 million profit!

How can clubs who's grounds hold at least half the people ours does with a much lower turnover per annum spend on transfers each season whilst we pick up bargains or scraps or even just not bother?

For all these grumbles, we have a set of fans as loyal as anyone and will always defend our club to the hilt, it's about time this loyalty was repaid.

The chance to progress for a relative sum of money has gone now, the same amount may yet be needed to help us survive which may just spur the club into action to save that new golden egg courtesy of the new TV deal.

Whichever way you look at it, it's disgraceful and yet we don't get as much as a word from the chairman.

We're just the paying customer aren't we?

Even Tesco and Boots reward their customers with loyalty points. Our loyalty points are the pride we share in our club but what happens when people become sick of that?

We're always open to answers Derek.