Paul Mitchell sent Newcastle request by Alan Shearer - 'This is what I'd like to see change'

Alan Shearer has urged Newcastle United to communicate exactly what went on this summer, feeling it's totally unfair that Eddie Howe has to front up to weekly transfer questions he's unable to answer

Speaking on The Rest Is Football podcast, Shearer was asked 'what's going on' at Newcastle by Micah Richards, who was keen to know what happened over the summer after no major signings and a failed attempt to sign Marc Guehi.

As a result, he suggested that sporting director Paul Mitchell should "come out and explain" our poor summer, to not only take some pressure off Howe but allow fans to understand what was a frustrating transfer window for the club.

“They put huge bids in for Marc Guehi,” he said. “Obviously they have the finance to go out and buy someone. I guess they just didn’t offer enough, or didn’t feel he was worth the £70million that Crystal Palace wanted.

“What I would like to see change is, and not only at Newcastle, because we’re now seeing more and more that it’s coaches rather than managers. We’re seeing more and more sporting directors or chief executives, who are buying the players for the coach.

“Yet we’re seeing the coach having to come out and explain all these decision. Sometimes the coach hasn’t got a clue what’s going on. Eddie said himself this week that he didn’t really know.

“I would like more sporting directors, or whoever is making the decisions, to come out and explain and say how it is, because it’s not fair on the coach all the time to front up every week and answer questions which they don’t know the answers to.”

Hopefully Shearer's call for clarity is heard and we hear from the club soon, whether that's via CEO Darren Eales or our new sporting director Paul Mitchell.