Take a stroll around the Etihad Stadium and you realise how much ground Newcastle United still have to make up.
This has never been a happy hunting ground for the Magpies but it has nothing to do with an allergy to a particular shade of sky blue or travel sickness.
Recently it just feels like cold, hard economics, and until the owners move this project out of third gear, it will continue to restrict them.
Manchester City’s owners are adding 7,000 seats to the stadium but they are doing more than that.
A huge 400-bed hotel and a fan zone plaza that includes cafes, a club shop and restaurants is just a stone’s throw from the brand spanking new Co-op Live arena, part-funded by City’s owners, which has gigs on most nights.
All of this creates 24/7 revenue which powers a first-team that proved far too strong for Eddie Howe’s side on Saturday.
The bottom line was not the reason Newcastle were sunk at the weekend – blame, perhaps, a flawed set-up and anonymous star players – but it is time that the ownership did something about it.
We are almost four years post-takeover and yet the button has not been pushed on any of the big ticket stuff Newcastle need to start addressing.
A delegation from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund is supposedly due in the north east in the coming weeks and there is some talk that it could finally usher in a decision on the future of St James’ Park.
That feels long overdue and it is time for everyone at the club to face the stark reality that without something close to what they have at the Etihad, Newcastle are going to struggle to bridge the gap.
Howe spoke about the risk of “staleness” a few weeks ago when addressing a lack of recruitment in recent months. They may yet prove prescient quotes.
Those words were forgotten in the euphoria at reaching Wembley last week but City’s infusion of new blood in January has allowed them to address some of their issues.
Newcastle’s anaemia here was a reminder that they need to hit sixth gear every time to get results.
How they missed the injured Joelinton and Sven Botman here, while Anthony Gordon – who appeared off it throughout – didn’t look fit. Help in January? The club’s balance sheet did not allow it, we are told.
Howe has worked wonders going through three transfer windows without major additions. If he was one of those managers that likes to play politics he could have made it difficult for the hierarchy but that is not his style. It is why Newcastle – unlike some of their rivals – have been united in both name and nature. But he needs some help.
You can bet he tortured himself going through the tape in the small hours of Sunday morning when Newcastle returned from Manchester. It was as witless and passive as it gets from a team that can beat anybody on their day, with not one player in the first half coming anywhere close to the standard required.
They stood off and watched City draw their shapes, utterly dominant in possession while dictating the game. Some suggested the Carabao Cup final against Liverpool might be playing on their minds but it did not feel like that – more just a return of some issues that they had hoped to bury.
Nick Pope will surely return for Nottingham Forest while Lewis Miley – the only player to take the game to City – will come into the reckoning for that one too. Elsewhere there is not much Howe can do other than return to the training ground and put in the work to ensure this was a blip rather than a sign of malaise to come.
He had called this a “defining period” for Newcastle. That is true off-the-field as well.
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