NEWCASTLE: Times are tough on Tyneside. But this is far from unexpected at Newcastle United, even if the Magpies’ new owners are having to learn the hard way.
Newcastle United needs a win. Desperately. They have gone 10 English Premier League games without one. And a manager — that bit is proving to be just as elusive as those first three points.
This week saw the club’s hunt for a Steve Bruce successor ramp up, and interviews, some of which were conducted off the radar, brought the three parts of the Newcastle ownership structure — the Saudi Public Investment Fund, RB Sports and Media, and PCP Capital Partners — together in unison. Villarreal’s serial winner Unai Emery emerged from weekend talks as the Magpies’ preferred candidate.
Further conversations between prospective manager and new employer progressed well, to the point United believed they had their man. But then, by Tuesday night, the trail, inexplicably, had gone cold.
Emery, one of the most decorated coaches in the world game, looks to have caught a severe bout of cold feet and decided Villarreal was to remain his safe place.
In a statement released via Twitter, ex-Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain boss Emery, said: “No matter how much noise there was yesterday in another country there was transparency and loyalty within Villarreal and the Roig family (club owners) and their staff.
“That is maximum for me and that is most important for me. Villarreal is my home, and I am 100 percent committed to stay here. I am honestly grateful to the interest from a great club, but I am even more grateful to be here.”
It felt, in many ways, like a bloodied nose for the drivers of this very public pursuit of No. 1 target Emery. Newcastle chief Amanda Staveley is understood to have been at the forefront of negotiations.
However, that only tells half the story.
Arab News has learned, from well-placed Newcastle United sources, that the club grew unconvinced of Emery’s conviction toward taking the job — and the suggestions coming out of Spain that the manager had reservations about the direction of the project were described as mere “excuse-making” on his behalf.
United are keen to recruit a manager who buys into the rebuild at Newcastle 100 percent and they do not have time for those who are wavering. There is a belief that Spaniard Emery could come to regret backing out of the Newcastle job.
As a result, Eddie Howe, who is said to have impressed the club’s hierarchy at interview, has now re-entered United’s thinking. Others such as Lucien Favre, Roberto Martinez, and Paulo Fonseca also remain under consideration.
While a return to the original PCP project plan A of targeting Everton manager Rafa Benitez was unlikely, it has not been totally ruled out. The Benitez web stretches from Merseyside to northeast England still, with ex-lieutenants Frank McParland and Owen Brown having the ear of Staveley and her husband Mehrdad Ghodoussi.
United sources suggest the club has already swiftly “moved on” from Emery, although the likelihood of an appointment before Saturday evening, when United take on Brighton and Hove Albion at the Amex Stadium, fades with every passing hour.
So where does that leave Newcastle United?
They are a club floundering six points adrift of Premier League safety, 19th in the table and with no win since May. They are also rudderless, to an extent. No skipper at the helm, only deputy Graeme Jones, the club’s interim manager, in post for the vital-looking trip to the south coast. It is a role he is reluctant to hold onto for too long. Even Jones, winless in two games, knows a new boss is a must.
This weekend is the first of 10 games between now and the start of the January transfer window. While it is widely accepted United will spend in this much-needed, mid-season juncture, they cannot rely on this alone.
The Premier League is a 38-game slog and 20 will have passed by the time trading commences in 2022. Without a significant upturn in fortunes, the die may well be cast by that point. No amount of money or progressive recruiting is likely to be able to halt a decline which stretches from August into the new year.
The final ace in their pack of Newcastle’s owners is a shuffling around in the dugout. And while progress is happening on that front off the field, true change on it cannot come soon enough.
