Alan Shearer: Newcastle set back two years after transfer chaos

It's crazy to think that tomorrow is the last game of the season, and here we are, still talking about last summer's transfer window.

Newcastle United dropped the ball spectacularly last year. Despite bringing in six new faces in the summer, the window has been deemed a spectacular disaster.

We've rehashed the reasons why many times, but the excuses don't wash with everybody, and nor should they if we want to learn from the mistakes and progress.

The Alexander Isak drama got the summer off on the wrong foot, and the fact that it dragged on through the whole window pulled the club down. Having no sporting director and a CEO on sick leave made everything much slower, and losing out on so many targets meant we were adding new names to our shopping list as we went.

Alan Shearer: Isak move didn't work for anyone

The signings we brought in didn't exactly hit the ground running either. The whole thing was an abject failure, and now Alan Shearer has told Betfair (via The Chronicle) that he believes last summer's events set the club back two years.

"I think what happened last summer probably put Newcastle back two years. I don't think it was helpful to anyone.

"It wasn't helpful to Isak. Hasn't worked for Liverpool, hasn't worked for Newcastle and not one bit of good's come out of it. 

"And Newcastle are going to have to have to invest again going forward, because they can't have another season like this where neither centre forward [has] worked."

We agree with Shearer's assessment

The Isak debacle was probably more detrimental to the club than not having a sporting director. It garnered so much negative attention, which affected everyone in and around the club. Not to mention the club had a potential £125 million deal hanging in the air, not knowing if it would get done or not, so they couldn't do anything.

Everyone connected with the club who has spoken about the upcoming window has insisted that lessons have been learned, but we'll find out soon enough, particularly with how long it takes to get Anthony Gordon out of the club. 

We all know that's coming, let's not drag it out.

As for what Shearer said about being set back two years, it's hard to argue with that logic. Last summer was meant to improve our squad so we could compete on all fronts this season, and here we are, finishing the season without European football, which means recruitment is going to be harder again, and then we have to get back into Europe next season to try again.