The Prophet

Some snippets from Douglas' latest article: "The first priority – which has been initially addressed in the last couple of days – is surely now to make sure everyone is on the same page after the appointment of Paul Mitchell and James Bunce to key roles in the football operation." ... "And that is the bigger issue at play here. How happy were those in positions of real influence at Newcastle at how the 2023-4 season went? A 7th place finish was about par for them but there was disappointment at the way the club went out of all three knockout competitions, where they were sabotaged by injuries. Poor recruitment and miscalculations in previous transfer windows left them hamstrung." ... "Enter Mitchell, who seemed personable and clued up when he chatted to journalists in Germany. His CV is impressive and he brings very different skills than Ashworth did. He is a contacts man – “not necessarily a 10-year appointment,” according to one source i spoke to last week – and has been brought in offer fresh insight and expertise in recruitment." ... "Ultimately the club will live or die this season on their recruitment. i understands there is a decent transfer budget to bring in “quality over quantity” – the current thinking that two or three players who can immediately challenge for the first team need to come in.:

Aye, I'd imagine they'd want at least £40 million to £50 million for Mbuemo alone.

Feel a bit sorry for Waugh. Must be tedious having to write a weekly transfer column when you aren't aware what's going on and you have to keep recycling names like DCL.

Good to see Louise Taylor is still going.

Rory Jennings is an oxygen thief to be fair.

I have no idea what your point is here

I think we only ever scouted Ederson as a potential replacement for Big Joe, in case he didn't sign his contract.

The original post was "we tried to sell him", which we didn't. I imagine they enquired, we asked for something daft and they backed off.

The Athletic, Edwards, etc have all reported we didn't activity try to offload Gordon, but Liverpool made an enquiry and we held "arms length" discussions with them (I think that was the phrased used).

Hasn't that been debunked numerous times?

Nice finish on Saturday. Excited to see what he can do this season.

Nah we need a RCB.

Even fudging the booking it doesn't make too much sense from an amortisation/not alerting the Premier League perspective.

According to the Athletic...

The Milan transfer market continues and after having made official the purchase of Morata, the Rossoneri will now try to further strengthen the team. In terms of exits, however, Newcastle has returned heavily on Malick Thiaw . Newcastle had already been following the German defender at the beginning of the summer but could now come back with force on the player. At the moment, no official offers have arrived at the Rossoneri club , but the English team is very interested. The 2001-born player, in fact, is very much liked by the new sporting director Paul Mitchell . Last season Thiaw made 30 appearances for Milan across all competitions, also providing an assist .

I think he'll end up being Joelinton-esque. A brute of a number eight.

Unsurprisingly Bruno, Gordon and Trippier being given time off.

It's pretty normal for players to have specific or individual fitness plans like.

Clickety, clickety click. Spoiler: Gordon will stay, he didn't want to sell Minteh or Anderson. Joe Kinnear was right.

The desperation to make this an England thing, when it's an internal Newcastle thing is very click baity.

Exclusive: Club chiefs reassure manager he will continue to hold significant power after he sparked alarm with comments about restructuring. Newcastle United have held clear-the-air talks with Eddie Howe over his future at the club and are confident he would reject any potential interest from England. The club’s board were alarmed by Howe’s comments on Friday when he expressed concern over changes in the management structure this summer and questioned his future if those issues were not addressed. Howe’s public expression of frustration came after the appointment of Paul Mitchell as sporting director and the sudden departure of co-owner Amanda Staveley, with the manager’s future coming into focus as he was made favourite to succeed Gareth Southgate with England. When asked about the situation last Friday, Howe said: “There’s absolutely no point in me saying I’m happy staying at Newcastle if the dynamic isn’t right. I’m certainly not serving Newcastle well if I do that.” Newcastle had not been warned Howe would go public with his frustrations and rather than rebuke their manager, the key power brokers have offered reassurances he will continue to hold significant power and will not be reduced to a first-team coach. In those meetings, led by chief executive Darren Eales, they also reassured Howe he would have a say in recruitment and be involved in all major decisions over the club’s direction of travel. Howe is said to have been pacified by promises the new management structure will be a collaboration between himself and Mitchell, as well as performance director James Bunce, and nothing will be imposed on him. HOWE WILL RECEIVE SHORTLIST OF TRANSFER TARGETS That is thought to be particularly important in the area of recruitment, as one of Howe’s red lines is understood to have been the fear players would be signed for the first team that he did not want. In turn, Howe has declared that he is more than happy to allow a shortlist of players to be drawn up for him to assess, which includes players from abroad rather than just those with Premier League experience. Indeed, Howe has stressed that he has always been happy to recruit from foreign markets, pointing out that he was the driving force behind the signings of Brazilian Bruno Guimaraes, Dutchman Sven Botman and Sweden international Alexander Isak. Player sales have also been discussed and it would appear increasingly certain that England international Kieran Trippier will be sold this summer, with interest from clubs in Saudi Arabia. There are also doubts about midfielder Sean Longstaff, who only has a year left on his contract, as well as winger Miguel Almiron and centre forward Callum Wilson, who has picked up a back injury early in pre-season. Eales had also described Howe as “phenomenal” and insisted last week they would reject any approach from the FA to interview the former Bournemouth manager who signed a new long-term contract last summer that does not contain a release clause. Newcastle’s recruitment plans have been disrupted by the recent changes and it will be fascinating to see how Mitchell and Howe address the main weaknesses in the squad. A right-sided forward and a right-sided centre-back are the most pressing concerns, while a midfielder and striker will have to be signed if Longstaff and Wilson depart.