Joe Kinnear is banking on Mike Ashley’s millions and a healthy run in the FA Cup to dissipate the gloom that has settled on St James’ Park in recent months. The Newcastle United manager, who met directors this week to discuss his January transfer plans, remains confident that his team can pull away from the foot of the Barclays Premier League, although his optimism comes with a caveat.

With Newcastle still up for sale and Kinnear’s first-team squad thin to the point of threadbare, these are challenging and dangerous moments for the club. That was illustrated when the Newcastle United Supporters Club (NUSC), which was formed in the wake of Kevin Keegan’s departure in early September, demanded urgent answers last night from Ashley, the reluctant owner.

“I’m still very confident we will not be relegated at the end of the season, but we also know it’s going to be tough for us if we do not strengthen the squad and start getting players back from injury,” Kinnear said. “If we have everyone fit, our first-choice XI would finish in the top half of the table, no problem. On our day, if we have our full team out on the pitch, we are a match for anyone in this league.”

Kinnear is happy with the quality of players in his squad, but it is its size and its vulnerability to injuries and suspensions that have given him most cause for concern. “We have had no Nicky Butt and no Danny Guthrie and I have been forced to play people out of position in the middle,” he said. “Throw in the fact that Joey Barton is going to be out for six to eight weeks [with a knee injury] and you have almost a first-choice midfield all out.

“Hopefully we will be able to address the problem [the thinness of the squad] in January in the transfer market and we’ll get some better luck on the injury front because it’s been cruel to us recently. There will be money available — it’s just a question of how much.”

The league remains Kinnear’s priority because of the club’s position one place above the relegation zone, but he sees the FA Cup as a chance to lighten the mood on Tyneside. “The Cup can have a positive impact and it’s something we will take very seriously in the new year,” he said. “Everybody is pulling in the same direction. We are getting harder to beat and I will demand the very best from everybody.”

The NUSC believes that the transfer window will be critical in terms of taking “the necessary action to save Newcastle’s United’s season and save our Premiership status”, but it has had no response in its attempts to engage Ashley in dialogue.

“You have said that you will not put any more money into Newcastle United,” the group said in a public statement. “Is that still your position now? You have said that you wish to sell the club, but at the right price. What do you believe to be the ‘right price’ in the event that Newcastle United are relegated?

“Why do you refuse to speak to the fans of Newcastle United? Do we not deserve your attention? Are we, in your view, an irrelevance? Urgent action is needed to save our season, and protect our status as a Premiership football club.”