Exclusive: ‘Testing season ahead’ – former Newcastle manager on his old side’s troubling summer
A former Newcastle manager has discussed his fears about the upcoming campaign after a turbulent summer on Tyneside.
A year ago, Newcastle’s future looked remarkably bright. They had just qualified for the Champions League for the second time in three seasons and had won their first major trophy in 70 years. Over the course of a single summer, however, everything has been turned on its head.
Eddie Howe’s unexpected resignation and the departure of several senior players have left Newcastle in turmoil, while chastening pre-season defeats to Everton and Bristol City have underlined the challenges facing their new and unproven head coach Matthias Jaissle.
One person who understands Jaissle’s situation better than most is Ruud Gullit, the legendary former Dutch international who managed Newcastle between 1998 and 1999. Speaking exclusively to 3 Added Minutes on behalf of NY Sports Day, Gullit expressed his concern about the “testing season” that lies in wait on Tyneside.
Ruud Gullit fears ‘testing season’ for Newcastle
Gullit took Newcastle to the 1999 FA Cup final, leaving the club early the following season following a public dispute with Alan Shearer. Few are better positioned to understand the challenges of managing a side like Newcastle than him.
“We have to wait and see. I hope I'm wrong, but it looks like a testing season ahead for Newcastle,” Gullit said. “Their supporters deserve to see the club competing consistently in the top five. I don't know a great deal about Jaissle. I just hope he does well for the club's sake. We'll have to wait and see how he adapts.”
After five years under Howe’s management, the team now head into uncharted waters with Jaissle at the helm. The 38-year-old has been appointed after winning the AFC Champions League twice with Al-Ahli, but this is his first chance to manage at the highest level – and he will take charge of a much-changed and much younger squad.
Bruno Guimarães, Sandro Tonali and Anthony Gordon have all left the club, replaced by up-and-coming talents such as Bazoumana Touré and Sean Steur. With a settled team now taken apart, Newcastle’s Saudi owners are now gambling on youth and appear to hope that the new arrivals can combine with existing talents such as Lewis Hall, Lewis Miley and Tino Livramento to build a squad which can develop together over time.
Transfer decisions have created ‘widespread uncertainty’
The sales of players who were viewed as key pieces of Howe’s system has earned the club an estimated £225m in transfer fees, but they have spent just £135m of that so far, while only one of their new signings – goalkeeper Lukáš Horníček – is over the age of 20.
The decision to allow Guimarães, Tonali and Gordon to leave also appears to have contributed to Howe’s decision to resign, which came just weeks after he committed to spending another year at St. James’ Park during a post-season meeting with the club’s ownership.
“When a club loses its best players, it’s always tough for everyone connected to it - the management, the players and of course the fans,” former Ballon d’Or winner Gullit continued. “Ultimately, when a player wants to leave and doesn’t believe in the project, you have to let them go.
“The grand narrative of the owners signing the world's elite players hasn't materialised, key players have departed, and there's widespread uncertainty surrounding the club's direction.”
That uncertainty has cost them an experienced manager and left them with a much greener playing squad, and few are backing Newcastle to battle for another top four placing in the coming campaign. A 3-1 defeat to Everton in Edinburgh on Wednesday will have done little to increase confidence.
Jaissle himself acknowledged in his first media interviews that despite his “ambition” for the club, success “will not happen overnight” and has already spoken about his hopes that the club will secure some new signings – but even with a few more fresh additions, Newcastle feel like a club who have been compelled to start again from scratch. Gullit isn’t alone in his concern about where that fresh start might lead.