Report now names early name in the frame to be Darren Eales' successor at Newcastle United

Just as Newcastle United were starting to get onto smoother roads after a very bumpy summer and shaky start to the season, CEO Darren Eales rocked the club with news that he'd be stepping down from his role due to ill health.

Darren Eales has been diagnosed with chronic blood cancer and, while the prognosis is positive, Eales has understandably taken the decision to step away from his duties to spent time with his family.

He will stay on until a successor is appointed and he will oversee the handover before he steps away fully, so he's likely to still be with the club into the new year.

However, the search is on to find his replacement.

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A report by Mark Douglas for inews has already suggested that the club are very keen to appoint a CEO with football experience, and one name is already under consideration.

"Newcastle insist they want to continue to attract high quality candidates and have the heft and ambition to do so. The likely successor will have a football background and one name floated to i was well-connected former Arsenal CEO Vinai Venkatesham, who spent 14 years in north London."

We can't imagine there are too many people out there who are more qualified than Darren Eales given that he created an entire football club out of nothing in the MLS.

It's definitely imperative that Newcastle finds someone else who has that experience of running a football club to ensure the club in safe hands.

Amanda Staveley and Mehrdard Ghodoussi were excellent for the fans because they were just winging it and throwing money at the issue, however, in reality, the fact that we ended up having to sell two young stars to plug a £70 million hole in the summer was likely down to their cavalier attitude.

Somewhere in the middle lies what Newcastle fans what. Someone who isn't scared to spend the money, but also has an eye on the future to avoid such issues from happening again. Is that too much to ask? Probably.