Ed. Note: This is a FanPost written by one of our readers.  It's exactly the kind of community participation we're looking for.  Keep 'em coming, guys.

... or in other words, "What Newcastle fans can learn from the Denver Nuggets."  For anyone interested in the field of sports economics, a great case study was all over the U.S. sports media today with the conclusion of the Carmelo Anthony saga in Denver.  The Nuggets finally traded him to the NY Knicks.  I'm not a huge NBA fan, but I will defer the NBA experts on the outcome of this one:

The Nuggets did well for themselves ... which is more than the Cleveland Cavaliers or Toronto Raptors could say when LeBron James and Chris Bosh bolted for South Beach. The Cavs and Raptors made last-minute sign-and-trade deals for picks and trade exceptions, but those are just possibilities and cap space. The Nuggets have more tangible assets. They have three players averaging at least 16 points per game in Raymond Felton, Wilson Chandler and Danilo Gallinari and a 7-footer in Timofey Mozgov. They got a first-round pick and two second-round picks. I know the Nuggets were attracted to all of the first-round picks the New Jersey Nets offered, but I'd rather have the known in proven players than the unknown in picks of undetermined order. Plus that $3 million, in addition to the $13.2 million in luxury tax payments they're no longer on the hook for, plus whatever cut they'll receive from the taxpaying teams.

While the loss of a superstar like Carmelo certainly hurts the emotions a bit, Denver provided a great example of how a mid-market team should deal with the inevitable loss of players that have outgrown the market, become superstars, and are ready to move on to bigger things.  Instead of immersing themselves in denial like Toronto and Cleveland did with Bosh and Lebron, they owned up to the reality of the situation and got as much out of it as they could. 

In many respects Newcastle did the same thing with the Andy Carroll saga and I believe it will work out very well for the club.  This is the reality of the new economics of football, and Newcastle fans need to learn to accept it.  Newcastle has great fan support and is a big club, but it is not a "superclub" and it is not owned by an oil billionaire with limitless wealth to pour into the club.  The days of Newcastle setting the record for transfer fees with Alan Shearer are long gone and will never come back (unless the Saudi Royal Family purchases the club from Mike Ashley). 

The good news is that Newcastle can still be successful if it continues to live within its means and focus on being "unemotional" in player selection, like Arsenal and Lyon.  The key will be to properly reinvest the Carroll transfer fee into new acquisitions, like how Wenger reinvests the sale of his stars into guys like Van Persie, Sagna, and Chamakh.  We are already seeing good signs of this with Newcastle with their recent purchase of Hatem Ben Arfa.  Let's hope this continues in the summer transfer window.