He is a decent manager, but there is a lot of the work that would normally be done by a DoF falling on his shoulders, and it’s unknown whether he welcomes this or not.
It’s also presumably him who has got his nephew in the help with recruitment, and that doesn’t seem to be going very well
Are we even sure it is though. If he was I think Isak might have gone now. He is after all the coach.
They invited us to negotiate in person at the Saudi embassy
Probably because the barbeque is all about team building for the coming season. Isak has shown himself to be toxic and Howe likely don’t want him to contaminate/demoralise what is supposed to be a social event to bring people together with some good memories.
I understand it well. Wouldn’t want him invited either. He has a contract to 2028, after all. And there is just too much noise. If we should buy such a player, I am a personally not sure of. I have liked absolutely nothing that I have seen from the Isak camp. He should have informed the club that he wanted to leave, but to keep fighting publically, creating a toxic mess, is truly bad despite the internal problems around sales and buys and whatnot in Newcastle.
How do we know he won’t do this to our player group ? To our club ? Sure, we would likely have solved it much better than Newcastle, but still.
He informed the team after discussions which began last summer; his behaviour is no ‘worse’’ than Virg at Southampton
Fair perhaps.
Even so, it could be potentially problematic having him at a team building lunch. Howe must do what he feels is best.
I don’t get the frequent bashing that Howe gets to be honest. He is a decent manager who is working for questionable employers.
He isn’t as arrogant as Arteta or Guardiola. Not saying he is very likeable but somewhere in the middle.
Perhaps he is out of his depth completely if transfer responsibility has now fallen into his hands but overall I would say he has done decently with the squad he has.
In Newcastle’s case it is kind of true though. Comparisons to FSG’s ownership of Liverpool are limited because PIF is so much of a bigger organization with a much more decentralized operation and the Newcastle operation is supposedly a completely different one to their domestic football operation. Complaints that spending on the Saudi league is taking away from supporting them are not valid, but it is true that the domestic initiative, which is now tied in with the World Cup, is far more important to them than the Newcastle project
Guilty by association is all it is, there was nothing negative being said about him before he ended up at Newcastle.
I find him to be a sound bloke, particularly with this whole Isak saga I feel kinda sorry for him because he’s clearly powerless to do anything and the club are even going out their way to keep him out the loop.
Appearances aren’t everything but Isak did give an impression that he was a solid team player.
It’s not his fault he became too good for Newcastle. Same situation with Virgil.
Is this the 1st domino? Guessand to AV, Watkins to NU and Isak to…
If Newcastle manage to sign Muani I think he is better than a few of the others they have missed out on. Their incompetence might be serendipitous.
How high was he on this list at the beginning?
That’s exactly what I was about to say: if the whole drama ends well, and perhaps it was simply necessary to sign a really good replacement, then that would be a truly good ending. Assuming they give us Isak, of course.
Below keeping Isak, getting Pedro, Delap, Ekitike, sesko, Jackson.
Think Wissa has pretty consistently been touted as their choice for second striker. So they might be getting one of their preferred targets. Although when you have as many as them that doesn’t mean much.
I don’t think Villa will sell Watkins. And even if they do, I’m not sure that Watkins would see playing for Newcastle as move up.
