And he insists: "Mike has the final word on everything!"
Derek Llambias: "We are here. We had to draw the line ourselves by taking it off the market.
"There were a lot of tyre-kickers out there and there's not much money out there, so Mike has decided, 'That's it, I'm staying, I want to put some more money into it and let's get it promoted'.
"He is desperate to get it promoted, that's his focus.
"Mike has put a lot of money into Newcastle and he has done his best. We have made mistakes.
"He has put another £20million in this week, and that's just for the running costs. Come January, we might have to put some more in.
"We sat down with Chris last week, we asked him what he wanted.
"We work with Chris. Let's clear up the final say - the final say is with the Board, which basically is Mike. At the end of the day, Mike has to put the money into it.
"But Chris will recommend the players and we will go out there and get his first choices - if we can."