Mike Ashley is laughing all the way to the bank

But things are not so great on the park for Newcastle Utd.

Like every retailer from Mr Selfridge to Del Boy Trotter, Mike Ashley knows the importance of having a good January.

It’s the time of year when surplus stock is sold off, new strategies are put in place and outgoings are trimmed in preparation for challenges ahead.

The owner of Newcastle United will consider that he had a great first month of the year. His high-earning manager was head-hunted by a rival, enabling Ashley not only to promote the manager’s assistant on a considerably lower salary but also to take in around £3.5 million in compensation.

Three expensive, but surplus-to-requirements, players disappeared from the wage bill Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa’a loan to Roma was made permanent at £5.5 million, Davide Santon was loaned to Inter Milan with £4 million due at the end of the season and Hatem Ben Arfa’s contract was ended by mutual consent.

Five fringe squad members were shipped over the border to assist Ashley’s other project, Rangers, in securing promotion to Scotland’s top flight which would open up the prospect of a return to lucrative European football.

His outgoings during the month? Nothing!

So, yes, Mr Ashley can feel well pleased with the business he’s done. Newcastle United fans, though, are underwhelmed.

John Carver has been given charge of team affairs and that at least addresses one of the issues they’ve always had with Ashley and his Board.

Instead of a member of the “Cockney Mafia” running things, they now have a Geordie whose passion for the club matches theirs.

But the supporters know Ashley well enough now and their default position on every decision he makes is that he has taken the cheap option.

Figures released last month show that the St James’ Park club had income of almost £130-million last year, the 19th highest in world football.

Yet their total annual wage bill is just over the £60-million mark, which is what it was in 2008.

In the same period, salaries at most other Premier League clubs have increased significantly.

Carver’s appointment, which is until the end of the season when the club will re-assess, typifies Ashley’s desire to keep tight control over outgoings, particularly with new television deals providing a huge increase in income from next year.

On Wednesday Carver will come face to face with the man he replaced and comparisons will inevitably be made.

Alan Pardew took up the offer to return to Crystal Palace for several reasons. As manager of the Magpies, he was abused by the fans, rarely got credit for his work and had little or no control over the buying or selling of players.

At Palace he’s loved as a cult hero and during the transfer window was permitted to sign five players, including three he was interested in while boss at St James’ but could never follow through on.

He’s only been at his new club for five weeks but he’s already skipped through two rounds of the FA Cup, something that will irritate the Toon Army greatly as their club’s seeming indifference to the knock-out competitions is a constant source of discontent.

While Pardew won his first four games, Carver took one point from nine in the League, presided over the usual Third-Round capitulation with the usual weakened line-up and was allowed to spend nothing.

Since Pardew’s departure from Tyneside, the job description has been officially downgraded from manager to Head Coach, though effectively that’s what he was too.

Carver, who has never been a manager, is comfortable with that title. Not that he has any choice.

Managing Director Lee Charnley announced recently that the club runs on a three-way management structure himself as Ashley’s designated purse-string holder, Chief Scout Graham Carr, who is the main talent-finder, and the Head Coach, whose responsibility is merely to prepare the team.

It’s the way many European clubs work and there are plenty of continental coaches who would have no problem buying into it should Newcastle decide in the summer that Carver isn’t the man for the job.

He has 15 games to make his case. A top-10 finish is all Ashley asks. Newcastle are currently 11th and will go 10th if they beat Stoke this afternoon.

Even though he only won his first game at Hull last week, there’s been much to admire about Carver’s work so far, not least that he’s been able to coax performances out of players such as Remy Cabella and Emmanuel Riviere that Pardew never could.

If that continues, he’ll hit that top-10 target and Ashley will be able to save himself a whole lot more money.