Alan Shearer has already made it very clear why he won’t be turning on Eddie Howe anytime soon.
Speaking earlier this week, the former Newcastle No.9 issued a “be careful what you wish for” message to fans who have been calling for Howe to be sacked, insisting he is a “brilliant coach” who should not be dismissed during his first tough patch on Tyneside.
However, speaking on the Rest Is Football podcast alongside Gary Lineker, Shearer made some valid points around our rough transfer window last summer, explaining why we started a busy season already on the back foot.
Shearer believes there is a ‘bigger picture’ to consider, highlighting the lack of sporting director and CEO over a messy summer that not only saw us miss out on Mbeumo, Delap and Ekitike, but search desperately for late signings with no one steering the ship just as a disruptive Isak saga was nearing a sad conclusion.
On that note, Shearer fears our near-£125m spend on Wissa and Woltemade was the result of a late scramble, but also accepts that Ramsey and Elanga are yet to make a major impact, scoring just two goals between them despite spending over £90m on the pair.
“You have to look at the bigger picture. It looks to me like what happened in the summer hasn’t helped anyone. No sporting director, no CEO, and that clearly wasn’t right, leaving the club in a bit of turmoil.
“They then went from being a club that recruited so well – Hall, Livramento, Tonali, Bruno, Isak – yet this summer, Newcastle’s recruitment hasn’t worked. They’ve spent a fortune.
“Who was managing that situation? They went in for so many players and lost out. Mbeumo, Delap, Ekitike, Sesko and didn’t get anyone. Then they were left scrambling towards the end.
“Wissa hasn’t hit the heights. Woltemade is struggling with the physicality and pace. It hasn’t worked. Elanga hasn’t worked (so far), Ramsey at £40m; shown one or two signs, but nowhere near enough. The one that has worked is Malick Thiaw, he is a really good player.”
We ended last season on a high, securing Champions League football months after winning a trophy, but it’s fair to say a series of unfortunate events followed, sending us into 2025/26 with a huge cloud hanging over the club.
Paul Mitchell stepping down as our sporting director, Darren Eales’ illness leaving us short of a CEO while we waited for David Hopkinson to arrive, the messy and time-consuming Isak saga, missing out on so many top targets and then being forced to overpay for certain options who not only arrived without any pre-season training with the team, but with profiles that weren’t particularly suited to Howe’s styles of play.