Mike Ashley is still hiding under the bed, leaving the problems at St James' Park to others on Tyneside. Obviously scared stiff to revisit Tyneside, it seems he has lost all interest in the club he only started supporting last year.

But, as Newcastle put in the most pathetic 45 minutes in recent weeks, Joe Kinnear says it is about time something was done because United are set to lose all of their star players.

Michael Owen has a rather shocking appearance record for the Magpies but Kinnear says the club cannot afford to lose him ... although it is odds-on the former Real Madrid striker will be on his bike in January.

If Owen is allowed to leave St James's Park in January, for a fraction of his real value, it will be the single biggest mistake of Mike Ashley's increasingly laughable reign on Tyneside.