First footage from Newcastle United‘s upcoming Amazon documentary series paints the picture of a club in a hurry.
Cameras stationed in the dressing room capture a furious pre-match Eddie Howe team talk in which he invokes Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag‘s withering criticism of their supposed time wasting to rally his players.
“They want a quick game let’s f***ing give it to ‘em. Let’s blow them away with our running. Be intense in every action we do,” he says.
Later on CEO Darren Eales reveals that Champions League qualification will add £45m to the club’s bottom line while club chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan, one of the men driving the controversial Saudi takeover of golf and summer of spending in football, says the club’s ambition is simple: “To be number one”.
Howe, you suspect, will not be watching when the first episode drops on 11 August, a day before the new season starts.
An intense manager at the best of times, he has little time for basking in previous achievements, and friends say he expects next season to be an even greater challenge than turning Newcastle from relegation fodder into Champions League contenders.
Adding Sandro Tonali and Harvey Barnes means Newcastle have fulfilled their pre-season hope of making two “elite signings”. But what happens next in the market will likely define how ambitious the club can be next term.
They remain active and it was notable that the recruitment brains trust of Howe, his brother Andy (who is head of scouting), director of football Dan Ashworth and Eales have all been in the US over the past week as the club compete in the Premier League‘s summer series.
The hope is another new arrival – most likely to strengthen the defensive department – can be secured before their season opener and the imminent £30m sale of Allan Saint-Maximin to PIF-owned Al Ahli should open things up a bit.
But there is still some caution about the breadth of strengthening they can do and the loan market, which should become more active in the last fortnight of the window, is viewed as a realistic option.
Securing a deal with an in-built obligation or option to buy, sources suggest, can help them vault the Financial Fair Play hurdles that limit their spending.
i understands that Newcastle in dialogue with Southampton over right-back target Tino Livramento but there is still around a £10m divergence in valuation.
The club want at least two defensive reinforcements, with a left-back and pacey centre-back understood to be among the priorities.
Whether that is enough to continue their upward trajectory while competing across four competitions next season is up for debate. There is a suspicion that their rapid elevation to the Champions League has created a new set of what Eales calls “champagne problems” – most immediately an inability of their commercial revenue to match the club’s need to improve both the depth and quality of their squad.
Howe’s way is to play with intensity and physicality and the sessions abroad and back home have been tough. Players have done plenty of running but there is an alignment of personnel with the manager’s style – with new recruits Barnes and Tonali both able to marry quality with the physicality required.
And a word for Anthony Gordon, too, who has returned from England U21s a changed man. He admits himself he was not fit enough to play the Howe way after signing in January, but insiders predict a big season for the former Everton man, who wants to break into the Euro 2024 squad.
Academy graduates Elliot Anderson and Lewis Miley have also caught the attention in pre-season, with the latter described by Howe as one of the best young players he’s ever worked with.
He will be part of the first team group while Anderson, used increasingly in the second half of last season, could be on the brink of his breakthrough season.
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