Alan Shearer bracing for 'a couple of rocky years' for Newcastle United

Newcastle United appears to be falling apart right now, at least that's how it looks from the outside.

Those inside the club may feel differently, as many reports claim that there's no panic at Newcastle, despite losing several top players. That may change if Bruno Guimarães forces through an exit, mind, as losing him was never part of the plan.

And there is, by all accounts, a plan, and that plan did take into account losing Anthony Gordon and Sandro Tonali, so things are 'on track', whatever that track may be.

However, there's no denying that losing two big players in Tonali and Gordon and replacing them with unproven 'kids' in Sean Steur and Bazoumana Toure doesn't inspire confidence ahead of the new season. From a long-term point of view, it's exciting, but in the short term, it's a worry.

Alan Shearer has a good point

That's the view of Alan Shearer, who told Betfair (via The Chronicle) that Newcastle can expect a rough couple of years after this big shift in how the club is approaching transfers.

"I just think from a Newcastle fan point of view that you've lost your best player last year in terms of (Alexander) Isak for whatever reason. You've lost Anthony Gordon for whatever reason. You've lost Tonali for whatever reason. And clearly, if Bruno was to go, then that would be four of your top players gone within two years.

"And there's obviously been a shift in how they're going to sign players. They are going to go out and sign young, hungry players. But that in itself doesn't guarantee you success.

"It is a really important couple of months coming up for Newcastle because they've obviously sold players for big money and they've got a couple of youngsters in.

"But sometimes youngsters need time to develop as well, and instead of coming into the pressure cooker of the Premier League and a big club like Newcastle. So, there are no guarantees. Yeah, it's been a frustrating time in terms of off the field for Newcastle fans at the minute.

"I don't expect us to be challenging the top six next season. I think because of the situation we're in, I think Newcastle, we might have to accept that we might have a couple of rocky years or 18 months that is back to building and back to getting some sort of stability.

"I think what Eddie Howe has done at Newcastle, what he's done for us, he's without doubt the man to take Newcastle into the season regardless of what is going on."

It's not as bad as it looks

I've been branded a 'happy clapper' by some for trusting the club too much, and I understand that. After writing about the club for years, I'm able to detach emotion from what's going on a lot better than I could, so I don't have knee-jerk emotional reactions to everything that happens - or if I do, I take the time to look at all angles before I sit in front of the keyboard and pound on it with my fists.

Last season was a shocker in terms of the Premier League, nobody is denying that, but we did still get to a cup semi-final and into the knockout stage of the Champions League, so it wasn't a total disaster. What was clear, though, was that the squad had gone stale and we clearly had players who didn't want to be here.

At least two of those players have gone now, and while we've not brought in ready-made replacements, we're still in decent shape.

Eddie Howe is still the one

I agree we aren't likely to be challenging for the Champions League next season if this is how we're doing our recruitment, but even if we have to wait until next season, which would take us past the five-year mark post-takeover, we're still actually right on track from the initial claims made when Amanda Staveley and Co came in. 

We weren't supposed to be a Champions League side for five years. We did everything super quickly. Our success came a lot sooner than we were ready for, and that is down to one man ... Eddie Howe. So the Howe Out brigade would do well to remember that when you eventually hound him out of the club.

Patience is a virtue that not many football fans have, but if we can all muster some and ride this next season out, things will get better.