A summer of change at Newcastle United
Eddie Howe and his Newcastle United squad have travelled to Japan with the focus again on transfers.
It’s said that the more things change, the more they stay the same.
There’s been nothing but change since Newcastle United last visited the Far East five years ago.
The team, which is in Japan for friendlies against Urawa Red Diamonds and Yokohama F Marinos, has been rebuilt since then – and the building work has not been confined to the pitch.
Take a walk around St James’ Park ahead of the 2024/25 season, and there are seemingly builders everywhere.
The St James’ STACK is steadily taking shape on Strawberry Place, the hugely-important parcel of land bought back from developers after it was sold by previous owner Mike Ashley, as is the new club shop under the Gallowgate end of the stadium.
Inside, the home dressing room is being remodelled ahead of the Sela Cup fixtures next month, as revealed here.
The place has been a hive of activity during the normally-quiet summer months.
Yet some things have stayed the same.
Then, as now, there’s a clamour for new signings.
Eddie Howe needs to strengthen a squad which was stretched to breaking point by injuries and the suspension handed to Sandro Tonali last season.
Speaking after yesterday’s 2-0 pre-season win over Hull City, United’s head coach said: “We’ve had really positive talks (with the club’s hierarchy), and we’re trying to bring the right players for the football club.”
This summer has also seen an off-the-pitch restructure with co-owners Amanda Staveley and Mehrdad Ghodoussi departing, and sporting director Paul Mitchell and performance director James Bunce arriving.
Howe’s own future has also been the subject of speculation following the resignation of England manager Gareth Southgate, but there has been no approach, up to now, from the Football Association.
Back in 2019, Newcastle travelled to China, along with Manchester City, West Ham United and Wolverhampton Wanderers, for the Premier League Asia Trophy.
And the two-game trip would be illuminating amid a summer of change at the club.
The team was managerless when it left for Shanghai following the acrimonious departure of Rafa Benitez that summer, and Steve Bruce, Benitez’s surprise successor, would join up with the squad midway through the two-game visit to China.
There was an outcry on Tyneside to the surprise appointment, but the close-knit squad in China backed themselves to stay up again under Bruce.
And one senior player was keen to argue this point in a corridor at the team’s Nanjing hotel as Bruce’s appointment was being finalised early in the tour. He had an answer for every question about the imminent appointment – and club’s direction.
Privately, there was also disappointment in the camp that Benitez had left it so late to confirm that he would not sign a new contract.
Bruce decried what he felt was the “nonsense” which had been written about him after arriving in China, where the players had to contend with intense heat and humidity.
As for transfers, the club broke its transfer record that summer with the £40million signing of Joelinton, now a powerhouse in midfield under Howe, Bruce’s successor.
Allan Saint-Maximin, Andy Carroll and loanee Jetro Willems also joined the club, and Bruce guided United to a 13th-placed finish.
So much has happened since then.
Newcastle spent heavily in the first few transfer windows following the 2021 takeover – and the club went from fearing relegation to the Championship to competing the Champions League in the space of a couple of seasons.
However, the Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability Rules put the brakes on the fast-moving club’s subsequent spending – and forced the sale of Elliot Anderson and Yankuba Minteh last month, two players who were seen as the future of the club.
The club, which didn’t strengthen in January, has signed Lewis Hall on a permanent deal after a one-season loan, and recruited free agent Lloyd Kelly from Bournemouth, Howe’s former club.
Howe – who will welcome back Tonali, last summer’s biggest signing, from a betting suspension next month – needs more new faces to be in the club’s new-look dressing room when the season kicks off next month.
Twenty years ago, I travelled to the Far East to report on Newcastle United’s games in Thailand and Hong Kong.
The club signed a talented teenager that summer who would go on to score his first goal for the club in a fixture against Kitchee, featuring guest players Marcel Desailly and Fabrizio Ravanelli, in a hot and humid Hong Kong.
And, remarkably, that player is still going strong in the Premier League for Brighton and Hove Albion, who have also been in Japan.
That same player set up Minteh for a goal 15 minutes into his Brighton debut last week.
James Milner, aged 38, captained the team in their 5-1 win over Kashima Antlers in Tokyo.
Milner has always lived his life the right way as a footballer, and he has enjoyed extraordinary longevity at the top level thanks to this dedication to the game.
When he does eventually decide to hang up his boots, Milner will know that he got the absolute maximum out of his talent.