Newcastle fans to protest over lack of transfer activity

Newcastle fans have organised a protest for this weekend claiming the club's inactivity in the transfer market is preventing them finishing among the top sides in the Premier League.

And news there was over £34m in the club’s accounts at the end of the last financial year has further angered supporters who are calling for a boycott of Sunday's home match against Tottenham.

Five successive defeats, amid a run of just two wins from 13 league matches this calendar year, prompted the action which is backed by the Newcastle United Supporters' Trust. 

The frustrating thing for them is the money is there but the club won't spend it. Newcastle United are a club that should be in the top eight every season.

Last month, Newcastle announced record profits of £18.7m for the year ending June 2014. The club revealed the figure was up by almost 50 per cent from the previous year when total profits were were £9.9m.

These results signalled a fourth consecutive year of record profits, with commercial revenue playing a greater role in the increase. Full accounts registered with Companies House on Monday show £38.6m was transferred into Newcastle's bank account as a cash-flow sum and, after paying off a £4.5m overdraft, leaving £34.1m available to the board. 

'Significant'

Mark Jensen, editor of online Newcastle fanzine themag.co.uk, said: "The accounts show that all this cash was generated and the question a lot of fans would ask is why was a significant portion of that not spent on team strengthening?

"The idea of a boycott has been building for a long time and you can't blame the fans. I'm all in favour of it. It's a starting point where fans may feel empowered and make their feelings known.

"The frustrating thing for them is the money is there but the club won't spend it. Newcastle United are a club that should be in the top eight every season. That's the size of the club with the support base it has and the benefit of being a city with one club.

"We are going to fall well short of that this season and that equals failure in lots of fans' eyes. It seems that every transfer window the squad keeps weakening.

"People talk about Newcastle being a well-run business – that may be so in the short term – but in the long term we have a squad which needs massive investment."