"There won't be a big spending spree in January"

Those words from the mouth of Chairman, Richard Murray. I suppose we could debate what "big" means but the in the context of the sentence it sounds like "smaller" than we might have been expecting. The fact that he went on to talk about selling as well as buying probably reinforces the expectation setting that we are talking "small" because we haven't got any really "big" assets that we would want to sell (almost pleased that Reid's injured!).

Assuming no change of heart, then this looks disappointing. Especially so when you consider the current injury situation. We've never really bought big in January, although Pardew was given more room than most last year, but he was new in and the club were trying to fend off relegation, not win promotion. In the circumstances, you have to hope that the injury situation improves quicker than currently anticipated and that it doesn't worsen - all this when the weather and playing conditions are deteriorating.

It's hard not to get a feeling of deja vu when we have shown limited ambition in the past and it's cost us. There is not a lot of money slushing around in this league so we won't be alone in having minimal funds but there are one or two probably exceptions and that is all it will take as things stand to see us having to retrain our sights on a play-off place instead of an automatic promotion spot. Ipswich and Coventry are the likely beneficiaries here.

Expectations duly re-set, it will be interesting to see just what changes we make and how Pardew reacts to this news.