Bob Moncur believes that the Toon owner is shooting himself in the foot by gaining promotion and not building on it.
Bob Moncur: “It’s (Ashley's statement) disappointing to say the least, but perhaps inevitable.
“Next season will be difficult now – we knew that it was going to be anyway, but to do it without spending money makes it much harder.
“I think in some ways it takes the pressure off Chris Hughton, as people know that he has no money to work with. But it will be difficult.
“Chris has done a tremendous job with the players pulling together and I think he is capable of continuing that. But it will be really hard. There is no money in the game at the moment for most clubs.
“Yet you would have liked to see maybe three or four new faces at Newcastle next season to bolster the squad.
“Sadly, it doesn’t look like that will happen.
“I bumped into Mike and asked him how he saw things going, and he spoke of youth development.
“He said that was his plan, and it is a very noble one in my opinion.
“It’s all well and good saying that, but you are not always guaranteed a clutch of players of that calibre coming through.
“It can happen in certain generations, but there are no guarantees and the names mentioned are hard acts to follow.”