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Phil Neville says Newcastle United’s hierarchy have to stop selling the club as a “stepping stone” – because the policy just doesn’t work.

BBC pundit Neville is amazed that United have positioned themselves as a club that can offer a route to foreign players to something better when they have huge potential themselves.

“You can’t run Newcastle United as a stepping stone,” he said.

“I think if you’re a lesser club, a smaller club, some clubs do use those as stepping stones to get to the top four – to get to higher clubs. But Newcastle you’re talking about a fan base and a crowd of 50,000 most weeks. It’s a massive club in the North East and I don’t think Newcastle should be a stepping stone.

“I know they have this policy of bringing in young players from abroad and looking to make money on them but I think that policy has to change or they will find themselves dropping out of the Premier League and they will find themselves coming up and going back out again because it doesn’t work.”

Neville also fears the worst on survival Sunday, with the former Everton man unable to see how United will pick up the three points they need against West Ham.

“He talked about big players but you would have thought those big players would have turned up by now because they have been in freefall for three or four weeks. I’m not sure the penny has dropped. I’m not so sure how they can get a result.

“West Ham have got nothing to play for which takes the edge off you but I’m not sure how this Newcastle team can get a result. They look spirit-less and I fear the worst for them, to be fair.”