PARTLY a Sky Sports love-in, partly an unashamed advert for Sports Direct, Mike Ashley’s weekend interview nevertheless confirmed the lie of the land at Newcastle United. As Rafael Benitez has learned in the last few weeks, the cupboard is not just bare, it is now practically non-existent.

Ashley’s admission that he sacked Sam Allardyce too hastily might have hogged the headlines, along with his acknowledgement that he cannot afford to take on the “countries” running clubs like Manchester City, but both of those issues are a smokescreen hiding the two killer statements buried within his comments.

Even the most naïve Newcastle fan is not expecting Ashley to match Manchester City’s summer spending, which already stands at well over £200m. Keeping pace with Huddersfield and Brighton would be nice though, yet even that looks an unrealistic prospect given the stance Ashley is adopting.

“I have put my £250m in the football club, guys, that’s it,” said Ashley. “There is no more from me, now the club has to generate its own money.” Or to put it another way, the financial well has run dry.

Why has Ashley decided enough is enough? Presumably because he wants out. He no longer makes any attempt to hide his desire to sell a chunk of his 100 per cent stake in Newcastle, and if an acceptable offer arrived tomorrow, he would sell up entirely and leave.

That creates a huge problem for Newcastle as it means, somewhat understandably, that Ashley will refuse to increase the amount of debt owed to either him or external sources. He doesn’t want to increase the sum that he is due as all available evidence suggests he is unlikely to get it back any time soon, and any desire to throw money at the club without a thought of what might happen to it in the long run disappeared when he fell out of love with sitting in the away end and drinking in the Bigg Market. Borrowing from a bank would simply make Newcastle even less attractive to potential investors.

For the rest of Ashley’s reign, Newcastle will have to break even. That sounds like an achievable objective given the financial riches involved in the Premier League’s new television deal, but in reality, funding an annual wage bill of around £75m doesn’t leave a lot of wriggle room when your annual turnover was £126m in the last set of accounts covering a season in the Premier League.

The gap between the two figures is £51m, which will probably end up being roughly the same amount as Newcastle’s total expenditure this summer once transfer fees, loan agreements, agents’ payments and wages covering the duration of the new signings’ contracts are taken into account.

What does £51m get you in the current market? Not a huge amount when Gylfi Sigurdsson is going for £45m before his wages are even considered. The days of Newcastle competing with Everton for that type of signing are long gone if Ashley sticks to his current approach, and while a lengthy spell in the Premier League might make it easier for the Magpies to increase the sums they are offering for players, the harsh reality is that relegation will remain a strong possibility for as long as Newcastle are unable to match the spending of the majority of their top-flight rivals.

How might the situation change? Either Ashley has a change of mind or leaves. He is adamant the former is not going to happen, and alarmingly for Newcastle supporters, he doesn’t see much chance of the latter occurring either.

“One of the reasons I am doing this interview is because I don’t think you’ll find many people out there who will actually stand up and do it (buy the club),” he said in a different part of his discussion. “So I think myself and the Newcastle fans are going to be together for a good while longer.”

Suggestions of a possible Chinese buyout were circulating at the start of the summer, but have long since gone quiet. Every now and then rumours of interest from the Middle East emerge, but they tend to vanish as quickly as they appear. And given that Ashley’s minimum asking price would presumably be the £250m he claims to have invested, is Newcastle really that attractive a proposition anyway?

If he knew back in 2007 what he currently knows now, you’d imagine Ashley would have been much more reticent about putting his hand in his pocket. He did though, and as this summer’s limited transfer business proves, Newcastle United are still paying the price.

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THE situation is very similar down the road at Sunderland, with Ellis Short also looking to sell up. Short is keen to reduce the amount of debt owed to both him and the banks, and to that end, there remains a strong prospect of a fire sale in the final few days of the transfer window.

That is the reality of the financial position Sunderland find themselves in, but it is still a real shame when Simon Grayson is making such a good job of turning things around.

The opening three weeks of the season have been like a breath of fresh air on Wearside. Off the field, Grayson has earned deserved respect through his honesty and level-headedness. There has been none of the negativity that characterised David Moyes’ reign – Grayson regards managing Sunderland as a privilege, and wants his players to feel the same about playing in a red-and-white shirt.

On the pitch, there have been real signs of progress, with last weekend’s win at Norwich featuring some excellent attacking football and Wednesday’s spirited draw at Sheffield Wednesday showcasing a resolve and focus that was badly lacking last season.

The spine of Sunderland’s team is strong – but it is also vulnerable. Lamine Kone is sure to have his suitors in the final fortnight of the window, Lyon are reportedly eyeing Didier Ndong, and it would not be a surprise if a Premier League club decided to take a punt on Lee Cattermole before August 31.

If Sunderland were to keep all three players – losing Wahbi Khazri would not be as much of an issue – they would head into September as viable promotion contenders. Sadly, however, money is likely to talk.