I’ve caught some shrapnel this week because I wasn’t prepared to do the obligatory fawning and gushing over Newcastle for winning the same League Cup as Luton, Swansea and Birmingham.
I am pleased for Newcastle and their fans are remarkable but I wasn’t going to act like a gurning buffoon because a state-owned club winning a trophy is greeted as a fairytale.
I’m also grounded in realism about the challenges facing Newcastle next. How can they become a dominant force when they are stymied by PSR?
Clubs like them aspiring to be in the top echelons have no margin for any major decision including buying players.