Turning Newcastle United into European football contenders is not worth the money it will cost in Mike Ashley's eyes, football finance expert Kieran Maguire explained in an exclusive interview with The Transfer Tavern.

While Newcastle are miles behind the likes of Manchester City and Liverpool, making a challenge for Champions League football very unlikely, there is understandably a feeling that the club at least have the potential to fight for a Europa League spot.

With a capacity of 52,000, Newcastle have one of the largest stadiums in the country and are an English outfit with a rich history.

Ashley, however, will not try to unlock that potential on the basis that qualifying for the Europa League or Europa Conference League is not worth the money that will have to be put in to get there. That is what Maguire believes is in the back of the Newcastle owner's mind.

"In order for Newcastle to push on and to be challenging for the top half of the table, for Europa League and Europa Conference League places, he would have to spend significantly more money," The Price of Football author told TT.

"I suspect he will take the view that the rewards of getting into Europe's minor competitions simply aren't worth it because we've got Leicester, Everton, Arsenal, Spurs, possibly Wolves and West Ham.

"To get ahead of those involves spending an awful lot of money and that's not Mike Ashley's track record."

Indeed, there is a lot of competition now to get into Europe. So if Newcastle want to join the party, then they have to improve their squad every summer, which you just cannot see happening under this current regime.