Newcastle have signed three new players this summer so far and it has highlighted one massive thing

Newcastle United have so far brought in three new players this summer along with confirming the permanent transfer of Lewis Hall.

Lloyd Kelly has arrived on a free after his contract ran out at Bournemouth and two goalkeepers have joined the squad in free agent John Ruddy and Greece international Odysseus Vlachodimos and while Kelly could be a decent acquisition, we can't imagine anyone is bouncing around with excitement over the other two signings.

How we have gone from potentially signing Giorgi Mamardashvili, the best goalkeeper at Euro 2024, to John Ruddy, the 37-year-old and Odysseus Vlachodimos, a 'keeper who must have been pretty poor given that Nottingham Forest dropped him to third choice and replaced him with Matz Sels, we'll never know.

One thing I swore to myself I'd do when I started writing about this club for a living was to drown out the negativity and try to look beyond the here and now and try and point out the bigger picture. It sometimes comes off as bootlicking for the board, when everyone is getting on their backs about the decisions and I'm trying to offer up an alternative narrative, but that's not the case. It was a genuine effort to keep the positivity going for myself more than anyone else.

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PSR was a symptom but not the cause

I think that road is starting to come to an end. While a lot of fingers can be pointed towards PSR, the reality is that the board knew it existed, they knew what the rules were, and while I still believe there's been a game afoot by the board to try and get PSR changed or scrapped, Sunday was just too much of a mess to believe they're even close to winning.

Selling two bright prospects and bringing in a 'keeper who couldn't keep Matz Sels out of a relegation-threatened side is not where any of us thought this club would be after the PIF-backed takeover.

I've said before, they have got a lot right but they're far from perfect, and lately it certainly feels like the club are getting more wrong than right.

Eddie Howe needs someone to handle his transfers for him

But the one thing, the one big thing that has become extremely apparent, is that Eddie Howe needs a Director of Football above him, someone to guide him in the transfer market, someone to make him aware that he's not at Bournemouth anymore. Players will actually want to come to Newcastle if you just try.

Granted, maybe not the type of players we need to mount a title challenge, that will come when we return to the Champions League, but John Ruddy and Odysseus Vlachodimos aren't going to get us back to that promised land.

He needs someone to tell him when it's time to cut players loose too. We held on to Paul Dummett and Matt Ritchie for too long, we have absolutely no need for Mark Gillespie, although he might now be the best of the back-ups. This is coming from someone who is old-fashioned and always thought that the manager should handle transfers as he's the one who has to pick the players to go out there and compete, but it's clear Eddie needs someone to point him in the right direction.

Hopefully, Howe is playing the long game

Somebody needs to come in and take hold of the transfer business because, as much as I trust Eddie Howe as a coach, and I do believe he's the right man to guide us to success, he needs help in the transfer market.

I'm holding on to that last shred of positivity, and I don't want to turn this site into another beacon of negativity, but the club's got to start meeting us halfway.

Admittedly, there's still a long way to go in the transfer window and he could be getting these small, insignificant-looking transfers out of the way to ensure he's got the cover he needs before we splash the cash on someone truly impressive, but until then, we need to do some firefighting as the fanbase is starting to lose faith.