Steve Nickson fears eased by Luke Edwards ahead of imminent Newcastle departure

On Monday, it was reported that Newcastle United's head of recruitment, Steve Nickson, is set to leave the club.

Steve Nickson has been at Newcastle for 15 years and has been in his current role as head of recruitment for most of that time.

Nickson was involved in some of Newcastle's biggest deals, bringing in Miguel Almiron, Joelinton and Bruno Guimaraes.

It looks as though the 61-year-old is heading to West Ham after the London club parted ways with Max Hahn.

The timing of Nickson's departure was a worry

Our big concern over this was the timing. The transfer window officially opened on Monday, and losing our head of recruitment at such a key part of the year feels like history repeating.

There was the hope that Nickson's notice period would keep him on through the summer, but The Telegraph's Luke Edwards posted on X that the reality of Nickson's role of late has hugely diminished, and he may not be as big of a miss as we first feared.

"Steve Nickson was part of a recruitment team at #nufc. The last player he played a major role in identifying and signing was Sven Botman. He played a role in the signing of Bruno too 🙌🏻

"He signed Allan Saint-Maximin 👏🏻 and Miguel Almiron 👏🏻as well as Joelinton as a centre forward 😬

"He’s not led transfers for a long time. He wasn’t behind the signing of Tonali, Thiaw, Hall, Isak, Osula, Gordon or Livramento. And no he wasn’t leading last summer’s less successful window either.

"He leaves with everyone’s best wishes but Newcastle have got Ross Wilson leading things. Eddie Howe has the final say on players as he always has done. More hits than misses. They’ll be fine"

Panic over?

If this is the case, then we really aren't surprised he wants to leave. It's believed that the role on offer at West Ham would see him a lot more involved in transfers.

It does sound like even if Nickson were to leave with immediate effect, the disruption would be minimal, although the club does still need to bring in a replacement, and having him ticking over until one is found makes sense.

Edwards' post does beg the question - just what was Nickson doing last year if he wasn't involved in that disastrous window?