Newcastle's first days of relegation

It is only a few days since Newcastle went down the dark and lonely streets of relegation. While much of the public sat oblivious to repercussions during the campaign and for that matter sat on their collective hands in protest during a number of engagements at St James' Park, only now is the impact being discussed openly.

A victim of massive mismanagement and gross under capitalization, Newcastle's tumble to the Championship is not a simple open and shout case where rebound promotion is guaranteed. This is something far beyond recent situations such as Charlton Athletic and Leeds and within an entirely different economic climate. Far beyond a moment on the pitch, Newcastle first needs to desperately pare down what is one highest salaries budgets in the Premier to Championship revenue streams. This means putting more than a dozen players on the chopping block in an effort to sever upwards of £40m from annual budget while targeting £30m plus in transfer revenue. Unfortunately given the worlds financial situation, it is a "buyers market" and whomever is leading Newcastle must deal with highly treacherous terrain.

Regardless if there is a well financed "white knight" waiting in the horizon to make an offer on the club, one of the first steps is cleansing the roster and getting it in-line with the new cash flow.