When Mike Ashley fronted Sky Sports cameras on the final day of the 2014-15 season, he proclaimed that Newcastle would be active in the transfer window.
“We will continue our policy of investment,” he said.
More than a month has now passed and it is an all too familiar tale on Tyneside.
Newcastle and Crystal Palace are the only Premier League clubs who are yet to bring in new players and ironically, the latter have landed ex-Magpie Yohan Cabaye for £10 Million.
An alarming trend that has emerged in recent times has been the worrying tendency for Newcastle to fall short in their transfer endeavours to similar placed clubs. For example, Swansea in recent years have captured Bafetimbi Gomis and Andre Ayew (both free transfers) at the Magpies expense, and clubs of a smaller stature such as Stoke and Southampton are outdoing Newcastle, both on the pitch and off it. With all due respect to these teams, this is quite embarrassing from Newcastle’s point of view given the size of the club, and it is painfully obvious that the board of directors is doing little to rectify this situation.
A crystal clear example of Newcastle’s lack of urgency in the transfer market is in the pursuit of Charlie Austin. The 26-year-old scored 18 goals in a relegated QPR side, but despite going down, the Loftus road outfit still scored more goals than the Magpies. For someone who is English, relatively young and obviously equipped at the Premier League level, Austin would be a perfect fit for Newcastle. He could mean the difference between a relegation battle and a top-half finish, if wisely combined with other signings. Rangers value the striker at £15 million, but the issue again lies with the club’s lack of transfer intent, with the board disagreeing on the pricetag.
The Toon Army faithful would be more forgiving if they had tasted silverware recently, something which even the likes of Birmingham, Swansea (both in the League Cup) and Wigan (FA Cup) have all achieved in the last five years.
The last time Newcastle won a trophy was in over 45 years ago in 1969. A blight on what is supposedly one of the Premier League’s ‘biggest clubs’.
What makes matters worse is that the Geordies have not been incredibly convincing in cup competitions recently either. In the third Round of the FA Cup last season they faced Leicester, the self proclaimed ‘best coach in the Premier League’ John Carver rested key players Daryl Janmaat, Moussa Sissoko and Ayoze Perez, and a spiritless Newcastle lost 1-0.
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Prior to last season, the two previous FA Cup campaigns have ended in the third round, with defeats to Cardiff and Brighton respectively. It remains to be seen what emphasis Steve McClaren places on the cup competitions, but for the club to move forward, there must be an emphasis on every single football match, regardless of whether they are for points or simply friendlies.
With less than a month until the opening match against Southampton, there is still major change needed at St James’ Park and unless Mike Ashley delivers on his promise of investing in the squad, the Magpies will be in for a miserable season.
The time for talking has stopped, Mr Ashley.
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