Newcastle United learn from last year's mistakes as controversial post-season move will not be repeated

Newcastle United are firming up their pre-season plans with a tour of South Korea and Singapore on the cards this summer.

After the successful Japan tour last year, Newcastle will continue to try and tap into the lucrative Asian market as part of their preparations for a massive season.

As well as the trip to Asia, Newcastle United are set to travel north to Scotland to take on Celtic for the first time since 2004, before ending their pre-season preparations with another Sela Weekend, which will see several games played at St James' Park over two consecutive days, as reported by iNews.

The one thing the club will not be doing this year, though, is another post-season tour like the controversial trip to Australia last year.

The trip to Australia last year was panned by pretty much everybody

Newcastle had a gruelling season last time out, with a Champions League campaign taking a heavy toll on the squad, resulting in many injuries.

To compound that, though, the club scheduled a bizarre trip to Australia along with Tottenham Hotspur to play Spurs and an A-League XI just days after the final game of the season.

The tour actually took place between the end of the Premier League season and the FA Cup final, that's how little time was wasted in jetting off down under. The move was condemned by players, pundits, environmental groups and even Eddie Howe himself, with the gaffer saying at the time:

“This is something from a physical perspective after a long season that we probably wouldn’t want to do.”

Newcastle players will be given some time to relax this year

Newcastle and Spurs also had several players who were gearing up for an international tournament, with the Euros taking place in the summer, so nothing about it was ideal.

The move was lucrative for the club, which netted a six-figure sum, but this year it seems the board are willing to forego that slight bump in revenue in favour of common sense.

Newcastle have another campaign of European football ahead of them, regardless of where they finish in the Premier League, so maximising the time players get to relax before they go again seems like the right move.