Another summer is going to go by without Newcastle United’s horrendously delayed takeover going through. That now seems inevitable, and fans have good reasons to suspect that it’s never going to happen at all. The legal wranglings and arguments with the FA have gone on for more than a year, and the buyers are said to be losing interest. We can hardly blame them. The FA and the Premier League seem determined to stop the takeover from happening, and that leaves Newcastle rudderless. Mike Ashley is apparently unwilling to put any more money into the club, which means no summer signings.
A lack of transfer activity would likely spell doom for Newcastle’s prospects of surviving another season in the Premier League. The club flirted with relegation last season when injuries and suspensions stretched an already-thin squad and only dragged itself clear of trouble when big-name players returned to action. With nobody having joined the club since the end of last season, the Magpies are even lighter on top-class players now than they were then. If an injury were to occur to Callum Wilson or Alain Saint-Maximin, it’s hard to see where the team’s attacking threat would come from. That’s assuming that Saint-Maximin is even at St. James’ Park by the time the season starts because there’s sure to be interest in the gifted French winger from elsewhere.
With his back against a wall and no money to play with, Steve Bruce looks set to return to a strategy that worked (to a degree) last season. We can’t say for sure whether bringing in Joe Willock on loan from Arsenal was the decisive factor when it came to Newcastle staying up, but he certainly helped. Earlier in the summer, we were told that Willock wouldn’t be returning to Newcastle for an extended loan because Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has plans for him. Now, we’re hearing that Arteta might have had a change of heart. Willock may very well be coming back to Newcastle, and he won’t be the only “loan ranger” if rumours are to be believed. Bruce is preparing to launch a raid on his former club Manchester United and bring in centre-back Axel Tuanzebe.
The move for Tuanzebe makes sense for all parties involved in it. Tuanzebe had limited success attempting to break into Manchester United’s first team last season and is likely to find that job even harder this time around now that the Manchester club has added France international Raphael Varane to its ranks. The player is said to be keen on the move and relishes the idea of playing first-team Premier League football every week. Newcastle’s defensive record last season highlights the need for improvements, and even with a lack of Premier League experience, Tuanzebe is thought to be an improvement on anything Newcastle have available to them at the moment.
Willock’s situation may also have been affected by the player’s willingness to come back to the northeast. He enjoyed his brief spell with the club last season and indicated that he’d be willing to stay when his loan term came to an end. Newcastle’s inability to pay a substantial transfer fee makes a permanent move impossible, but the possibility of a loan move raised its head again after Arteta found little use for him in Arsenal’s pre-season friendlies. Neither move is yet complete, but those close to the club believe that both will be completed within the coming days. Newcastle’s prospects of staying up next season still look weak, but with Willock and Tuanzebe, they’d be better than they were before.
Given the takeover and transfer situation, Newcastle manager Steve Bruce has every reason to be worried about the future. However, if some reports emerging from Birmingham are to be believed, Newcastle’s future might not be Bruce’s problem for much longer. A few days ago, John Terry surprisingly made the decision to step down as assistant manager of Aston Villa with only a few weeks to go before the beginning of the season. His given reason for doing so was that he felt ready to step into a senior management role himself, having learned everything he could as an assistant. The sudden resignation didn’t seem to make much sense unless the Chelsea legend had a club to go to – and it seems that they might. Press reports are now linking John Terry to the managerial role at Newcastle United.
If Terry replaced Bruce, it would be a big surprise. Mike Ashley has never shown any inclination to get rid of Bruce so long as the manager keeps Newcastle in the Premier League, and few managers worth their salt would want his job anyway, given the turmoil behind the scenes at St. James Park. For an untested manager like John Terry in his first role, it would surely be a nightmarish assignment. It would be as big a gamble as taking all of Newcastle’s guaranteed Premier League television money and dumping it on a single bet at an online slots website. It might even be worse than that. You can at least see and understand the route to victory with the online slots at the Online Slots UK website. All the ingredients you’d need to secure a big win are visible on the screen at all times. No such clear path exists at Newcastle United. It only makes sense to play online slots if you believe you’re in with a chance of winning. Managing Newcastle United in its current state is a thankless task, and wins can often be rarer than hen’s teeth.
Still, there are some fans who would likely support the idea of Terry coming in. Despite leading Newcastle to a semi-respectable 12th last season, Bruce remains unpopular with a significant number of supporters. He was heckled by fans during and after the club’s pre-season draw with League One side Rotherham United a few days ago, just as he’s been booed and heckled ever since he took the job. Some fans haven’t forgiven him for being a former Sunderland manager. Others simply think he’s not of the quality they’ve come to expect of Newcastle managers. A change of manager, though, is unlikely to bring about a change of fortune given the problems that beset the club. Loan signings might be enough to keep Newcastle out of trouble for another season, but they’re a plaster for a bullet wound in terms of the real issue.