This blog is inspired by the current situation at Newcastle United who following their recent takeover are now a little bit like a fat kid in a sweet shop who knows the pin number for their mum's Amex card!

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Of course the problem for Newcastle is despite the unlimited credit that they have, the really nice chocolates, you know the ones that have fancy sounding foreign names, come in ornate boxes and claim to have been rolled on the thighs of Belgian nuns are still out of reach for them because the creme de la creme of the footballing world (many of whom have also enjoyed time between the thighs of a Belgian nun) aren't likely to join a club that in 4 months time could find itself playing in the 2nd tier of English football.

Instead, Newcastle are left looking at altogether more common treats such as a Refresher bar, a packet of Wine Gums and if they're really lucky a Twix! In footballing terms this equates to them signing Mohamed Elneny, Joe Rodon and Kieran Trippier, all players they've been linked with in recent weeks.

The first question to ask then is whether this calibre of player is truly better than what is already on their books? I can't claim to follow Newcastle closely enough to have a huge amount of insight into their squad and of course the league table speaks for itself.

Equally though, we aren't talking here about high quality footballers that Newcastle are currently chasing. In fact, in most cases the players that Newcastle are being linked with can't even get a game at their current clubs, hence the reason they're being made available for transfer this January.

Secondly, even if the players that Newcastle do sign in February are better than what's already available then will it be enough to save them from the drop?

With just a solitary win all season and that coming against fellow strugglers Burnley, it will still take more than just a couple of signings to get Newcastle out of the hole they find themselves in and as we'll see below spending big in the January transfer window doesn't always guarantee you safety!

In fact, teams near the foot of the table in recent years have tended to steer clear of making many signings in the January transfer window with Watford the only team over the past 2 seasons to have spent upwards of £10million and still gone down.

Of course, transfer windows are little bit like an arms race and so even though the other sides near the bottom won't be able to match Newcastle's spending power this month, it's reasonable to assume that they will look to make some moves to try and counter whatever reinforcements the Toon Army can muster.

To put into contrast why Newcastle's spending power isn't a guarantee of Premier League safety lets take a look at some of the sides that have spent big in previous January windows and still gone down.

Just a brief disclaimer on the stats which are all taken from transfermarkt. I've only considered the Premier League from 2002-03 onwards as this is when the transfer window system as we know it now came into play. Also, it's very difficult to compare spending across a period of 2 decades because during that time the transfer market has gone crazy!

For example, in January 2005 Southampton spent £5 million on the likes of Nigel Quashie, Olivier Bernard and Andreas Jacobsson not to mention a whole host of loan and free transfers. While in the same window, Norwich shattered their transfer record to bring Dean Ashton to Carrow Road in deal for £5.4 million.

Both teams were ultimately relegated and I think in either example, it's fair to assume in today's money those windows would have cost both clubs in excess of £20million which would have seen them make the list below.

Which Premier League Teams have spent the most in the January transfer window and still been relegated?

Newcastle, January 2016 - £34.83 million spent

The bad news if you're a Newcastle supporter is that the last time the club was relegated from the Premier League in the 2015/16 season they also tried to buy their way out of trouble and failed!

Their big money buys on that occasion included Andros Townsend from Spurs and Jonjo Shelvey from Swansea with both players costing just North of £14million each.

In fairness, both proved to be good signings for the club with Townsend scoring 4 goals for Newcastle during the remainder of the season and being named man of the match on his home debut.

Having criticised some of the targets that Newcastle are interested in this January for not being first team regulars, Townsend is a good example of a player who had been frozen out at Spurs but arrived at Newcastle hungry to play football again. If Newcastle can find a few players with that kind of attitude this January then they will be in with a good chance of avoiding the drop.

Norwich January 2016 - £31.23 million spent

As noted above, activity from one team in the league during the January transfer window often results in a reaction from others around them. In the same season that Newcastle set the record for the highest spend in January only to be relegated, Norwich finished not far behind them both in terms of points and money spent.

However, when you look at Norwich's purchases it's notable that most of them were buys with the longer term in mind including life in the Championship. The purchases for example of James Maddinson and Ben Godfrey, neither of whom were quite ready to be first team regulars in the Premier League at that stage, were good investments both from the point of view that they helped Norwich to bounce back to the Premier League and that they increased their value when it came to resale.

I doubt that Newcastle will be shopping with quite the same plan in mind this January. Indeed, if you believe what you read in the papers a lot of the players that they are targeting have specifically requested for relegation release clauses to be added to any contract they sign. Doesn't really sound like they are that committed to the cause ...

QPR January 2013 - £22.95 million spent

It shouldn't come as any surprise that a team managed by Harry Redknapp featured high on our list! "'Arry" loved a bit of shopping in the January sales and the £23 million he spent trying to keep QPR in the Premier League was at the time the highest amount spent in January by a side that was ultimately relegated.

His big money buys included Loic Remy and Christopher Samba neither of whom had sufficient quality to keep the side up as the highlights from this derby game against Fulham show with Samba at fault for the first 2 goals and Remy missing a penalty!

To compound matters, 4 months after joining QPR, Remy was arrested on allegations he had been involved in a gang-rape so beyond footballing talent, teams battling relegation must consider the kind of character that they will be bringing into what is already likely to be a fragile dressing room.

Stoke January 2018 - £20.52 million spent

Caveat Emptor (buyer beware) is something for all sides looking to change their fortunes in the January window to consider.

The bulk of Stoke's hefty outlay in 2018 was on Badou Ndiaye from Galatasaray, a player who never really looked like he had the quality to make an impact in the Premier League.

While bringing players in from foreign leagues is appealing and often cheaper, it's worth any side battling relegation asking the question whether a big money signing from abroad will be able to quickly adapt to life in the Premier League. The answer more often than not is that they'll need the kind of time that most of these clubs won't be able to give them to get up to speed!

Swansea January 2018 - £20.52 million spent

As is the case with all of the teams in the bottom 3 of this season's Premier League, Swansea had opted to change manager just ahead of the January transfer in order to try and stave off relegation.

By default a new manager is likely to want to make changes to their side but again, you have to ask how quickly can an underperforming team adapt to the demands of a new coach and will the club be able to make the right kind of January signings to support that shift in philosophy in such a short period of time?

In 2018, Swansea decided that they would blow almost their entire wad on the signing of Andre Ayew who joined his brother Jordan at the club. The Swans paid almost 10 times Ayew's market value to bring him back to South Wales but a single player wasn't enough to turn things around for them as the Ghanian failed to score in 12 league games.

Cardiff Jan 2019 - £18.41 million spent

We finish off then with the tragic story of Emiliano Sala who cost Cardiff City in excess of £15 million and who sadly died in a plane crash on his way to joining the club in January 2019.

A memorial outside Cardiff's ground to a player who sadly never got the chance to play for them source

It would ultimately be discovered that the flight Sala was on was uncharted and flown by an regulated pilot proving in the most terrible of ways that there are no shortcuts to success in the January transfer window or indeed life in general.

Do you think Newcastle will spend big in January and will it be enough to keep them up?