Poor pre-seasons are nothing new at Newcastle United.
Pick a year at random, and something has likely gone wrong...
In 1997, Alan Shearer broke his ankle as Les Ferdinand was completing a move to Tottenham Hotspur, leaving Kenny Dalglish without either for a Champions League campaign. A fairly miserable year later, Dalglish spent on World Cup winner Stephane Guivarc’h and was sacked before he had even made his debut.
In 2008, Kevin Keegan’s third and final stint at Newcastle ended prematurely as he lost control of transfer activity at St James’ Park. Tony Jimenez, an advisor to Mike Ashley, later claimed Keegan had turned down the chance to sign Karim Benzema, among others; Ashley and Co. heeded that alleged advice but apparently could not miss the opportunity to infamously recruit Xisco and Nacho Gonzalez. With Keegan gone, Newcastle were relegated.
In 2011, Newcastle’s three best players were sold – more on that later – and even after Alan Pardew performed miracles to secure European qualification, he was not backed in 2012 or 2013 when Joe Kinnear returned to the club as sporting director. Rafa Benitez had similar frustrations in each of his summers on Tyneside.
But even by Newcastle’s standards, the past three pre-seasons have been pretty spectacular.
Elliot Anderson and Yankuba Minteh went in 2024, avoiding a points deduction but failing to bolster the squad, and Alexander Isak followed in a last-ditch move a year later despite inspiring Newcastle to EFL Cup glory and Champions League qualification in the interim. A succession of executives came and went across those two periods as the club struggled to deal with both finances and egos – two fairly key elements to transfer business.
Newcastle appeared to believe they were finally set up for success this year. Ross Wilson was established as sporting director, with Eddie Howe retained as manager. Anthony Gordon and Sandro Tonali were quickly sold, but both deals seemed to suit Newcastle as they pivoted to a new business model, prioritising younger signings with room for growth.
However, vital to this plan succeeding, at least until recent weeks, were the roles of Howe and Bruno Guimaraes.
Howe has a reputation for improving players, doing so with countless cases at St James’ Park, while Guimaraes, the club’s captain and best player, has both the class and experience in the middle of the pitch that would be required to carry greener new team-mates.
Now, two weeks out from the start of the season, both have gone.
Howe seemingly had less faith in the plan than others and set in motion his departure, with Matthias Jaissle brought in as his replacement. Guimaraes was already pursuing a move to Arsenal, but ally Howe’s exit all but ended any hopes Newcastle had of talking him around.
From the outside looking in, it has been a mess.
From within the fanbase, though, once arguments have died down over whether Guimaraes retains legendary status, there is perhaps cause for cautious optimism.
Jaissle, unlike Howe, is very clearly and vocally bought in. “I fully and unreservedly believe in this project, the ambition and the direction the club is taking,” he said in the press release announcing his arrival, and according to CEO David Hopkinson, speaking to The Athletic, the same is true of the new players: “They want to be here and they will fight for everything.”
Nobody knows quite what to expect of Newcastle this season, but that was probably true already. A full reset can mean excitement about the unknown, rather than fear.
Newcastle’s record without Guimaraes has been woeful since his signing in 2022, but that was Howe’s team, which was entirely built around his talisman. Jaissle – obviously – will put his side together in a different way, even if the aim is again intense, fast, high-pressing football.
Further signings will have to follow to ensure a young squad are not left badly exposed when the campaign kicks off, but there is a lot of potential within the group. The likes of Will Osula and Lewis Miley, alongside established star Lewis Hall, have the scope to take another step forward.
It may still be a long time before Newcastle have another player on Guimaraes’ level, yet even he, in perhaps his best individual season, could not lift his team into a fairly mediocre top half.
And if nothing else, the drama of another summer should ensure expectations are not as high as they might have been.
That was the case in 2011 when Kevin Nolan, Jose Enrique and Joey Barton left as Newcastle changed their transfer strategy entirely, a risk that was rewarded over the subsequent season thanks to the work of Pardew, Demba Ba and Yohan Cabaye.
Now, 15 years on, can new Newcastle boss Jaissle repeat Pardew’s feat? That is not a question many would have seen coming back in May...