Anthony Gordon was an unused substitute on Sunday as Newcastle won 3-1 against West Ham.
A third match in a row that this has happened since the England winger returned to the matchday squad after a minor injury.
Last summer, the Newcastle United owners totally undermined Eddie Howe’s pre-season preparations.
The club’s owners refusing to sell Alexander Isak and insisting the striker would remain at the club, only to then turn the situation on its head and sell Isak on deadline day.
With Callum Wilson having moved on, Eddie Howe left with no senior striker available for the entire pre-season and what turned out to be the first month of the 2025/26 season as well. That very late Alexander Isak sale triggering deals done far too late for Nick Woltemade and Yoane Wissa.
Former NUFC defender John Anderson declaring about that shambles from the Newcastle United owners: “That was never, ever going to happen again, they were never going to allow that situation to arise again.”
The mess last summer was exacerbated by the club’s owners also allowing a situation to come about where there was no Sporting Director or CEO actively working at the club.
John Anderson saying lessons have to be learnt for those running the club and the ex-Newcastle player telling BBC Newcastle: “If Anthony Gordon wants to go, let him go. Get it done early, stop messing about and don’t get ourselves into a situation last year where you’re waiting and waiting and waiting and all of a sudden it happens at the last minute and you’re chasing your tail trying to get players in. Is he going to be here next season? No, the answer to that question is no. He’s going to be elsewhere, where that will be we do not know but it needs to be sorted out very quickly come the end of the season.”
To be fair, everybody seems to be on the same page this time and of course having a proper Newcastle United hierarchy in place makes a massive difference.
The Newcastle United owners, CEO David Hopkinson, Sporting Director Ross Wilson and Head Coach Eddie Howe, all looking to get the Anthony Gordon sale done as soon as possible and use that extra financial flex to help bring in Howe’s own targets in early. That Anthony Gordon situation dominating the United transfer market situation as things stand.
Players will be joining up with their national squads very soon after the season ends, with the World Cup finals now just over three weeks away.
With the tournament lasting almost six weeks with an expanded 48 team format, it looks essential that Newcastle United get some major transfer business done early, both in and out.