It's been a tough start to the season for the Magpies as Rafa Benitez's men remain winless in the league and currently sit 18th in the table following their 0-0 draw with Crystal Palace. 

The Spaniard was severely underfunded in the transfer market over the summer and it looks as though Newcastle will be fighting relegation this season, a stark contrast to their 10th place finish last year. Under Mike Ashley's ownership, there's been a constant dark cloud hanging over the club and the vilified owner's appearance at the weekend didn't help matters.

It's safe to say that Newcastle have been a club that has been in flux since the Sports Direct owner bought the club. A club that at one time challenged for titles and was very much a part of the top six, Newcastle have now turned into a team that has been relegated twice in the last 10 years.

Not many Newcastle fans have ever attested that their team is comparable to Arsenal, Liverpool, or Man U but outside of that, Newcastle is arguably the biggest outside of the top six and on a level with Spurs.  Still, talkSPORT pundit Ian Abraham went on a bizarre rant and concluded that Newcastle is in fact not a big club at all.

While Newcastle may not have the trophy cabinet of the likes of Liverpool and Man U, pre the new money of Chelsea and Man City, it seems a fairly ridiculous rant to go on and one that is pretty uncalled for.

All this suggests that, while Newcastle were a previously respected club who many would have thought of as a sleeping giant, Ashley's terrible running of the Toon Army is making them look like a joke in front of the public. The talkSPORT lot may indeed be wrong, though that kind of thinking is creeping ever more prevalently into people's thinking.