Wikipedia is a faithful servant when the eyes are too young to have seen Newcastle’s glory. The fact is that the historic club has 4 Premier Leagues in the bag, and 6 FA Cups. Much like Leeds and Nottingham Forest, the success was shadowed by years filled with mediocrity and bad managerial and financial decisions, that impaired the growth of the club and made it struggle to even be at the Premier League.
Now, the tide has turned, apparently. No other than the Saudi Arabia’s sheik has decided that the Geordies are prone to fly as high as Manchester City. Online bookies are in utter turmoil with the perspective of having yet another shark in the pond, able to pay for the biggest talent and demand of it the biggest and most prized titles in football.
Complicated, but Done Nonetheless
The acquisition was complicated, to say the least. From fans, to Qatar, and even PM Boris Johnson, everyone tried to intervened and, if not cancel the whole deal, at least make it as clear and transparent as possible. Newcastle United Supporters Trust was one of the more vocal pundits, but it appears that money talks louder than associative enterprises in modern football.
For one, everyone outside of Newcastle is looking with awe. Who will they hire, will they follow Manchester City’s model, will they dominate the latter part of the next decade? Money is decisively not an issue, so all that stand between the Magpies and silverware is how exactly it’s applied.
The Manager
Eddie Howe was the chosen one. Steve Bruce was left out of the project and the mantle fell unto the shoulders of the ex-Bournemouth’s coach. The decision left some people stunned, as Eddie has not that much winning experience and didn’t leave an impression at his last club, despite showing a positive football philosophy and some prowess when it comes to make decisions.
Unay Emeri rejected the role, and Eddie rejected Celtic to come to Newcastle. His first big task in maintaining the club on the Premier League, but looking at his contract, he will have bigger, renewed tasks coming until his contract ends, at 2024.
What about the new players?
This is perhaps the most sensible management issue at Newcastle right now. Difficulty on bringing top class players – who wonder it’s worth it to “waste” some years of their brief career in a club that’s not as a winning bet as it appears- and severe needs on the current squad make finding the correct decision not only a preferred incursion, but an immense necessity.
Rumors have been running wild, from Mbappe to Benzema. Now, the more realistic approaches that we can assume are being made is either towards players that can provide an immediate impact, or very talented players that can be make both an uplift on the club and provide 5+ year certainties.
The club is looking at players like Marcos Senesi, Boubacar Kamara and other left-footed center-backs, showing that the position is in clear need of improvement in terms of quality. Umtiti is still in equation, despite recently resigning a new contract with Barcelona.
Then, there’s Fellaini, Milenkovic, Van de Beek, Haidara, Diego Carlos, Loid Kelly, and a torrential flood of other eventual signings.
The idea seems to be to create a good mix of talented made players with young talent that can grow on the club.
It would be ideal if Newcastle was a bit ahead on the table, but it’s reasonable to assume that, if they are even semi-successful in this market window, they can probably save themselves a place in England’s top flight league.
And even if they don’t, they will probably do a similar championship as Fulham is currently doing, not hurting the project as much as it would appear.
With the kind of money being invested, it doesn’t seem that Magpies’ new owner is not in it for the long run.