Yes ... Alan Pardew is hanging on Mike Ashley's every word ... and he has been told the Toon owner will finally spend the £35m Andy Carroll money in January.
Pardew says he is not set to go down the road of bringing in a free transfer (like he did last February) after missing out on a striker during the August transfer window.
Alan Pardew: "The guys who we have here last year are all still here.
"We have Hatem Ben Arfa back and training again.
"The strikers did well for me last year, we will be relying on them again.
"As a squad and as staff we are disappointed that the striker didn't arrive.
"But we have enough here.
"My thoughts are the squad has improved in terms of size and quality.
"At times last year I didn't think we were strong enough especially when looking at the bench.
"This year it is, we have probably got competition to get on the bench which is really welcome.
"The signing of the striker hasn't arrived and that is important."