Alan Shearer has admitted that it has got ‘very messy’ at Newcastle United following the ‘upheaval’ at the club in recent months.
Eddie Howe was the first to acknowledge that it has taken him and his staff ‘longer than we initially hoped’ to get the harmony back after the ‘most difficult’ summer of the Newcastle boss’ career. Not only did Newcastle face the very real threat of a PSR breach and points deduction, which unsettled the dressing room, and led to the departures of Elliot Anderson and Yankuba Minteh, there were huge changes at boardroom level following the exits of part-owners Amanda Staveley and Mehrdad Ghodoussi and the arrival of a new sporting director in Paul Mitchell and a new performance director in James Bunce.
Newcastle, who stopped bidding for top target Marc Guehi several weeks before the window shut, also ended the summer in profit following the club’s most underwhelming window since the takeover three years ago. Lewis Hall’s move from Chelsea was made permanent, as expected, after certain conditions were met during the defender’s loan spell, but Lloyd Kelly is the only one of Newcastle’s other four summer additions who have made a league start this season.
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Newcastle, nonetheless, went on to make their best start to the campaign since 2011, after finding a way to pick up results without playing anywhere near their best, but Howe’s team have since dropped to 12th place after going five league matches without a win. With huge home games against Chelsea and Arsenal to come this week, in the Carabao Cup and Premier League respectively, Shearer said these are ‘tough times’ for his boyhood club.
Ismael Bamba and Alan Shearer speak about Ish receiving the NUFC Community Captain award
Ismael Bamba and Alan Shearer speak about Ish receiving the NUFC Community Captain award
“I’ve said it before about all the upheaval at the football club with what’s gone on,” Newcastle’s all-time leading goal scorer told the Rest is Football. “A new sporting director; the two shareholders, Amanda and Mehrdad leaving; Darren Eales, the chief executive, now leaving; and hardly a player coming in, which Eddie wanted, during the summer.
“It’s all been very messy for Newcastle the last three or four months and they have to get back to what got them that Champions League spot in the first place: the energy, the drive, being horrible to play against. I don’t see too much of it.”
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