Shola Ameobi has urged Mike Ashley, Newcastle United's owner, to strengthen Alan Pardew's shallow squad with quality players this summer.
Although Ameobi is due to open negotiations over a possible player-coach role next season the Nigeria striker – who is hoping to be included in his country's World Cup squad – may well leave Newcastle in June after 14 years as a first-teamer.
Whatever happens the 32-year-old will never stop supporting the club and is upset by a post-Christmas slump which has brought five straight defeats and nine losses in the past 12 games. He is also anxious that Newcastle's manager Pardew, whom he feels has been let down by certain players, should not be made the scapegoat for this fall from grace.
"We have limited resources at the moment and when we lose one or two key players it hurts the team badly," Ameobi told BBC Newcastle. "That is what the manager has had to put up with, unfortunately. It is something the club have to put right for next season. We need quality players and we need a quality squad as well. This has all been brought out to a lot of people now but we, as players, knew that. I think the fans are getting to see that now."
With many fans calling for Pardew's head and the manager clashing with Hatem Ben Arfa, St James' Park is not the most harmonious Ameobi has known it.
"It's been a tough month and a half for us," he said. "There have been a few frictions in there, which you get in every dressing room. But we're all trying to pull in the same direction, players and staff."
Currently ninth in the Premier League table, Newcastle travel to Arsenal on Monday hoping to avoid a sixth straight defeat to maintain their pre-season target of a top-10 finish.
"The fans showed their frustration at the end of the last game [Saturday's 2-1 defeat at home by Swansea] and that's fair enough, because it's not good enough on our part," sad Ameobi. "It's disappointing that we're not finishing the season in the right way. It's down to us as players; the manager puts a team out which he thinks is capable of winning games. It's us, as players, who let him down."