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For the first time - arguably in the entire Mike Ashley era, but certainly since 2009 - Newcastle United fans can look forward to the January transfer window without the usual sense of trepidation.

In previous seasons there has been a real apprehension across Tyneside that United would look to sell their best players during the first month of the new year.

Or, as was the case 12 months ago, would merely panic buy in a doomed effort to stave off the threat of relegation - and, ultimately, not even manage to strengthen the two areas they desperately needed to anyway.

However, as Newcastle supporters await the start of 2017, they need not hold the same impending fear as they usually feel once the festive joy has evaporated.

Let’s set aside what happened out on the field on Boxing Day for a second - for which, it must be noted, there has been far too much of a sense of fatalism from a small section of supporters - and focus instead on United’s likely transfer dealings next month.

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Cheick Tiote aside, should the Ivorian finally be able to secure a move away at what feels like the 20th attempt, Newcastle will not sanction the sale of any of their prized assets.

That is unless an astronomical offer arrives, of course.

Unlike in previous years, when the manager or ‘head coach’ at the St James’ Park helm held only token control over potential incomings and outgoings, Rafa Benitez once again has outright autonomy.

He does not want to sell any of his first-team squad, Tiote aside, in January and he has no financial need to either.

Benitez has a £30million-plus summer-window profit at his disposal and we will wait to radically reform the squad during the summer should promotion be secured.

You only have to look back over the previous January windows during the Ashley era to see what a marked shift in policy next month will bring.

Remember in 2009 when Shay Given finally decided he had seen enough of United’s decline and headed off to Manchester City? Charles N’Zogbia even followed Given out the door towards Wigan Athletic of all clubs - the ultimate insult to Newcastle fans.

Relegation followed.

Within 18 months, star striker and homegrown talent Andy Carroll had been sold to Liverpool - admittedly for an astonishing £35m - as Ashley once again showed a lack of ambition.

In the next few January windows that followed, United sold Demba Ba (to Benitez’s Chelsea for £7m in 2013), Yohan Cabaye (to Paris Saint-Germain for £19m) and Hatem Ben Arfa (on a free to Nice).

Year after year, Newcastle fans dreaded losing their best players during the mid-season window as clubs offered inflated January prices for United’s prize assets.

True the Magpies recruited Andros Townsend and Jonjo Shelvey for a collective £24m at the beginning of 2016 and did not allow anyone to leave, but the proven Premier League striker and centre-back they so desperately needed did not arrive.

Seydou Doumbia’s loan spell proved to be a disaster, too.

But this January window will be oh so different.

In 2017 it’s all about incomings and not outgoings.

On Friday, Benitez made it clear that he is not interested in selling anyone.

(Image: Serena Taylor/Newcastle United via Getty Images)

Aleksandar Mitrovic has been linked with a host of top-flight sides, but Benitez even made the unusual move of namechecking the game-shy Serbian as one of the players he is desperate to keep hold of.

Jamaal Lascelles and Paul Dummett will also remain on Tyneside, unless a Premier League club really is willing to break the bank for either of them.

Instead Benitez’s focus in on recruiting another midfielder and a winger to reduce the creative burden on Jonjo Shelvey’s shoulders, something which was made to look all the more pressing following the directionless display against Sheffield Wednesday.

Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Robert Snodgrass and Fabian Delph are just three players United are looking at, while they have put in a number of enquiries about taking Premier League players on loan too.

Instead of agonising for too long over Boxing Day’s shock defeat, Newcastle fans should actually be relieved as New Year’s Day fast approaches.

For once they look set for a positive January window, rather than the firesales they have unfortunately become accustomed to during the Ashley era.