TOMKINS: DON’T BLAME SAK

MIKE ASHLEY can now see for himself the harvest of his thrift in black and white.

If the buttock-clenching tedium at Selhurst Park (Crystal Palace star Wilf Zaha, below) did not ring any alarm bells with Newcastle’s owner, on his first excursion to watch them play for 16 months, there is nobody at home in the belfry.

Let’s spell it out for Big Mike, in case the evidence before his eyes didn’t register.

Toon are in a relegation fight. Without meaningful investment in January – especially up front, where they are toothless – they could go down. For the third time on his watch.

Lose at home to Leicester on Saturday, and Newcastle will go into the next international break with two points from seven games.

The fork with which Ashley harpoons his dinner every night has more points than Newcastle United.

How can a great club, with 50,000 loyal fans rolling up every week and £123million of TV revenue last season, have such impoverished ambition?

Ashley has just rescued one failing institution – and safeguarding 3,500 jobs in 20 House of Fraser stores is a commendable feat – but another one at St James’ Park is in danger of withering on the vine without meaningful investment.

Only Huddersfield and Cardiff, the two sides below them in the table, JAMES TOMKINS absolved Mamadou Sakho of blame after his miss cost Crystal Palace their first goal and win at home this season.

Sakho (right) headed wide of an empty net 10 minutes from the end, but Tomkins said: “He is kicking himself in there a little bit, but we had numerous other chances as well. We dominated the game but it didn’t quite happen for us.”

The FA will await referee Andre Marriner’s report before deciding whether to take disciplinary action after Aaron Wan-bissaka was hit by a bottle thrown from the enclosure containing travelling Newcastle fans.