Now that the transfer window has closed with Newcastle United having to chalk this one up as a massive failure, what happens next?
It has been a horrendous summer for Newcastle fans. If it wasn't for the Adidas kit launches there'd have been very little to get excited about.
We had the PSR nightmare which saw the Magpies sell two young stars they didn't want to, but not just that, they were sold to Premier League rivals.
Shortly after that nightmare we lost Amanda Staveley and Mehrdad Ghodoussi from the club. The husband and wife team were the face of the new regime and were adored by the fans so that was a sucker punch.
Newcastle did bring in Paul Mitchell as sporting director which was celebrated at the time, especially by us at NUFCFEED who had him very high on our list of replacements for Dan Ashworth.
Mitchell got to work trying to sign England centre-back Marc Guehi from Crystal Palace and got led on a merry dance that went right up to transfer deadline day before they pulled the plug on the deal. It's not the best look for the new sporting director who came in with a sterling reputation.
Then with hours of the transfer window left, Mitchell tried to bring in Anthony Elanga from Nottingham Forest for £35 million in a desperate bid to do something in his first window and give the fans something to celebrate. Unfortunately, Forest weren't ready to deal and unless something happens in 50 minutes left of the window as I write this, Paul Mitchell is going to finish his first window with nothing to show for it.
If Newcastle do end tonight with no new incomings then either Darren Eales or Paul Mitchell has to come out and communicate with the fans just what has gone on this summer.
We know that Mitchell came in mid-window, but it's not his first rodeo, and the deal bringing him to Newcastle didn't happen overnight, he will have been working on things before we found out about his arrival. So what went wrong?
From the fans' point of view it just looked like Newcastle were so focused on Guehi that they weren't working on anything else. Someone needs to come out and put the record straight.
It can't be Eddie Howe as he's faced enough questions about the window and he has made it perfectly clear that he is not involved. We need word from the top and it had better be convincing.
PL | GD | PTS | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
1 |
Liverpool
|
12 | 16 | 31 |
2 |
Manchester City
|
12 | 5 | 23 |
3 |
Chelsea
|
12 | 9 | 22 |
4 |
Arsenal
|
12 | 9 | 22 |
5 |
Brighton
|
12 | 5 | 22 |
6 |
Tottenham Hotspur
|
12 | 14 | 19 |
7 |
Nottingham Forest
|
12 | 2 | 19 |
8 |
Aston Villa
|
12 | 0 | 19 |
9 |
Fulham
|
12 | 0 | 18 |
10 |
Newcastle United
|
12 | 0 | 18 |
11 |
Brentford
|
12 | 0 | 17 |
12 |
Manchester United
|
12 | 0 | 16 |
13 |
Bournemouth
|
12 | -1 | 15 |
14 |
West Ham United
|
12 | -4 | 15 |
15 |
Everton
|
12 | -7 | 11 |
16 |
Leicester
|
12 | -8 | 10 |
17 |
Wolves
|
12 | -8 | 9 |
18 |
Ipswich
|
12 | -10 | 9 |
19 |
Crystal Palace
|
12 | -7 | 8 |
20 |
Southampton
|
12 | -15 | 4 |