The former Spurs defender knows who puts bread on his table, so he keeps his lip buttoned and pretends the Kingdom Of St James' Park is a rose garden in full bloom.
Hughton has ruled out making any more signings before the emergency loan window shuts next week ... despite (two weeks ago) saying the Fat Controller had given him the "go ahead" to make signings.
So what has changed?
Well ... Hughton still has the same squad of players, so nothing new there. But Ashley has taken a mauling in the press and at St James' Park ... and when his bottom lip comes out ... the Toon fans have to pay!
Hughton has made a dramatic U-turn, declaring himself happy that his squad has enough strength-in-depth to negotiate the festive period.
Hughton: “We are constantly looking at possible signings, but there isn’t anything pressing at the moment. I can’t see anything happening in the short term. We don’t want to sign players just for the sake of it.
“They have to be the right players as we work towards the January transfer window.
“We’ve got a few players back from injury and that has helped as well. I’m happy with the squad – but if I get the chance to strengthen I will do.
“We are fortunate because the loan deals we have in place for Zurab Khizanishvili and Marlon Harewood take us until after Christmas so we don’t have to worry about that too much and I think Danny Simpson is actually with us until January.
“As I understand it, the only game we will be without Zurab and Marlon is the Derby match so hopefully it won’t cause us too many problems. That will take is up to the transfer window and we will see what happens then in terms of signings.”