Newcastle United managing director Lee Charnley chas described the club's relegation from the Premier League last season as 'unacceptable' and 'unexpected'.

Charnley says that significant money was spent on squad-strengthening last season, but that didn't reflect into results on the pitch.

The Magpies spent in the region of £70million in the transfer market last season only to drop down to the Championship.

"The 2015-16 season was extremely disappointing for everyone connected with the club," Charnley said.

"Significant sums of money were spent to strengthen the playing squad in the summer 2015 and January 2016 windows, which also resulted in an increase in our annual wage bill.

"In the context of this spend, relegation was both unacceptable and totally unexpected.

"The financial impact of relegation is difficult to overstate and this will become evident in our next set of financial results for the year ending June 2017.

"Our approach, following relegation, was to make further sizeable investment in our playing squad in preparation for the EFL Championship season ahead and our annual wage bill is, we believe, still above and beyond many current Premier League teams.

"Whilst not without financial risks, this strategy was adopted in order to maximise our chances of promotion at the first time of asking."

Under Rafa Benitez, Newcastle are favourites to gain automatic promotion back to the Premier League by winning this season's Championship title.