As a football fan, I find it very sad to see the state that Newcastle United Football Club find themselves in.

Fans from around the UK and abroad can see that they have turned into a shambles under Mike Ashley's leadership and there is no apparent recovery for them in sight.

Newcastle recently celebrated the fact that they survived the 2018/19 Premier League season without relegation and for a city where football runs through their veins, this must be incredibly hard to appreciate.

Rafa Benitez, who led them to safety recently left the club as in his words, the board did not "share his vision". That may seem as a damning valuation on the club's current custodians. Furthermore to this, the man who has seemingly built a reputation for saving many clubs from relegation, Sam Allardyce, has rejected NUFC's approach to acquire his services as manager by stating that it is his own policy to "never go back". This undoubtedly will be seen as a remarkable rejection by many who have seen Allardyce taking on lesser profiled roles in the past.

With Newcastle 11/4 to be relegated from the Premier League in the 2019/20 season, the situation is looking bleaker than they would have hoped for.