Tomorrow, 3.00, St James’ Park

will head into the ground to back the XI entrusted to perform in blackand-white shirts.

You do wonder what Ashley makes of all this.

Until there are any official interviews it is impossible to provide any type of balance.

There is talk Benitez will be backed in the January window again with a transfer meeting expected to take place this weekend.

However, the reality is Newcastle is a club in need of a shot in the arm. If the club cannot be sold then its custodians need to play some part in its upkeep and that means REALLY backing Benitez.

This week, the Spaniard hinted the club may be forced to look for players who are capable of fighting relegation. After a 10thplace finish last season, that is a really worrying suggestion as United should have really kicked on last summer.

Things have to move back towards football this weekend, though, and Newcastle will come to face to face with a team they should have ambitions to be like in Leicester City.

The Foxes have invested properly on the pitch and, while their fairytale title win in 2016 is still being celebrated by some of their fans even now, they have pushed on to be a solid top-eight side – which is where Newcastle should really be under Ashley.

Ashley said he could not compete with Manchester City, Liverpool, Manchester United and Spurs.

Yet surely grappling with the best of the rest should not be an unreasonable request? Unfortunately, it is.

If Newcastle chiefs want a cold Newcastle fans have continued to give the team great backing despite their concerns at the direction their club is taking; top, a banner is unfurled at Selhurst Park; above, a view of St James’ Park from a distance – it is ‘a sight that should warm the soul’ says Lee Ryder

assessment of where the club really is after failing to invest in the summer maybe they should listen to their OWN manager.

Benitez said recently: “At the moment we have to find three teams worse than us.”

Yep, the situation is far from rosy at Newcastle and rightly or wrongly some observers will have them down as underdogs against Leicester.

Although given this is a game between the side which spent £23m and the team which splashed out £104m, that really should not be a surprise.

Either way the Geordie faithful will be right behind their players as always. NEWCASTLE United are in dire need of three points after going six matches without a win.

The Magpies have not won at home against the Foxes since 2014 when Gabriel Obertan grabbed the winner

Back then Mike Ashley entered the dressing room to congratulate the players but was the tycoon to turn up tomorrow it would be his first home game since May 2017.

Regardless of all the politics going on behind the scenes, Newcastle are in a fight for survival already this season, with Rafa Benitez admitting they must find “three worse teams” before they can start assessing any bigger ambitions. MUCH has been made of Rafa Benitez’s tactics but he is working with the players he has.

Salomon Rondon is a borrowed body from West Brom, but with the striker ruled out through injury it means he has to rely on a player he brought in to make ends meet last term.

That man is Joselu and, with no other recognised central striker available, he will look to scrape three points this weekend.

Benitez’s side does not have much pace and struggles for goals but is solid at the back.

That all points to a narrow win at best, which I think Benitez will guide the team to this weekend.

For all the unrest behind the scenes, Newcastle fans have continued to back their team for 90 minutes