Newcastle’s summer plans boosted massively by Wilson and Hopkinson - Eddie Howe

Newcastle United's recruitment last summer was a disaster, no matter how you look at it.

We don't just mean that in terms of the players who were brought in not performing as they should, but just how the window unfolded and was handled in every aspect.

Newcastle had the lingering issues with Alexander Isak that caused a massive distraction and disharmony at the club. The CEO, Darren Eales, was on sick leave, and Paul Mitchell was serving the final week of his notice period during the first week of the window before leaving the club with no replacement.

That left Eddie Howe with split focus as he had to be more involved in the transfers, which were all far from smooth sailing. The club missed out on all of its primary striker targets and was forced to overpay for several players, ultimately ending up with players arriving after the season was already underway, with no time for any proper training. It was the very definition of a shambles.

Newcastle has everything in place ahead of the summer window

This year, there should be no excuses. We have a new CEO in David Hopkinson and a new sporting director in Ross Wilson, who have been in their respective roles long enough to do their jobs adequately, and Eddie Howe is banking on that for a smoother summer, as he told reporters on Friday morning.

"I think the structure is in place now. Last summer was obviously very difficult for the football club. We were going into the biggest window that we'd had in recent memory without the infrastructure. The club were well aware of that, it was an unfortunate situation. 

"But now with Ross' expertise and experience, and David's expertise and experience, I think we're in a much better place to make quicker decisions, better decisions, and conclude deals better and quicker. 

"Naturally, I think we're a lot stronger in that respect now. Whether it's easier to do deals and recruit players, that's sometimes unknown. But in terms of our part, I can assure everybody we'll be a lot better placed this summer."

Eddie Howe will have no excuses to hide behind next season

The club is obviously very aware of the mitigating circumstances surrounding last summer, and that's why we believe Eddie Howe has been given so much support, particularly in the high-level meetings held this week.

Nobody can deny that the team has not been good enough this season, and Eddie Howe is the first to admit that, but after the mess of last summer, it's not really surprising. 

So far, Eddie Howe has been quite lucky as each season there has been something going on behind the scenes that could be used to absolve him of blame for poor form, although this is the first season where that's really been necessary, bar a couple of blips in each of the last few seasons. 

Next season should be a different story. As long as things go according to plan in the summer, we'd suggest that Howe's out of excuses and if the team underperforms, it's on him, and we expect that's what he's been told this week.