The Newcastle United owners are set to meet Eddie Howe next week.
A lot to discuss.
A turbulent 2025/26 season set to be under the spotlight and most importantly, what will now happen moving forward.
Hopefully lessons have been learnt, especially after what happened last summer.
A number of journalists have reported their understanding that Eddie Howe has been told his job is safe.
Whatever the truth or not of that, only last Friday the Head Coach himself said that he is looking forward to the 2026/27 season and is focused on the best possible preparation in advance of it.
The Newcastle United owners are also reportedly set to discuss progressing stadium plans with senior staff. Fans desperate to see progress off the pitch as well as on it, with plans for a new state of the art training complex also awaited.
However, when it comes to the team, the Newcastle United squad, a huge transfer window coming up.
Eleven months ago, Champions League football was secured on 25 May 2025 despite a home defeat to Everton on the final day of the season.
Eddie Howe speaking at his post-match Everton press conference, before heading into a meeting with Newcastle United Chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan and the rest of the NUFC board of directors, had this to say: “As far as I’m aware, we do not have any PSR issues heading into this deadline..I think we are in a lot healthier position and a lot stronger position than we were at this time last year. We are looking to reverse what we did last summer. This time, we are in a strong position ourselves where we’ll be looking to make additions to the squad. I will have a discussion with the chairman and representatives from PIF today and I’m looking forward to that. We will be trying to lay some foundations for what lies ahead in the summer…the planning and all the things that go on behind the scenes have been there for a number of weeks now. We have been working hard to try to set things up for what we need to do. Speed is key for us and I have reiterated that many times internally. Speed is key because we have to be dynamic. We have to be ready to conclude things very quickly because good players don’t hang around for long.”
Whoever Eddie Howe had in mind when he mentioned “good players don’t hang around for long”, we will never know for sure.
Safe to say though, at that point in time the plan was never to sign Nick Woltemade on 30 August 2025 and Yoane Wissa on 1 September 2025, the third last day of the transfer window and then deadline day.
Two strikers that we do know for sure had been long-term Eddie Howe targets…
Sky Sports reporting on 23 August 2022:
‘Newcastle make £30m bid for Watford’s Joao Pedro’
(That bid was rejected by Watford and Joao Pedro eventually moved to Brighton a year later)
Sky Sports reporting on 29 June 2025:
‘Newcastle have had a longstanding interest in Joao Pedro but have seen a bid of around £50m rejected by Brighton. The Magpies firmed up their long-standing interest in the player with an offer this week and while their offer has been rebuffed, talks between the clubs are ongoing. Chelsea are also in talks to sign Pedro, who is now their top target. The player wants to join Chelsea despite the interest from Newcastle and other Premier League clubs.’
(Joao Pedro signs for Chelsea on 2 July 2025 in a deal that will eventually be worth £60m)
The Guardian reporting on 2 June 2022:
‘Newcastle United agree initial £25.6m deal to sign Hugo Ekitike from Reims’
(Hugo Ekitike instead signed for PSG later that window)
Sky Sports reporting on 15 July 2025:
‘Newcastle tried and failed to sign Hugo Ekitike in 2022 and have seen a new club-record £70m bid turned down this week; the Magpies want Ekitike to play alongside Alexander Isak; Newcastle have held talks with Ekitike’s representatives in Austria.’
(Hugo Ekitike signs for Liverpool on 23 July 2025 for £79m (initial £69m transfer fee plus £10m in future add-ons).
So what went wrong?
We will never know for sure exactly what went wrong across summer 2025, no doubt there were a lot of factors involved that contributed to the mess.
What we do know is that of the six eventual signings, only Anthony Elanga had a proper pre-season with the Newcastle United squad.
When I look back now, my best guess is that there was one big initial problem.
Eddie Howe spoke to the Newcastle United owners on 25 May 2025, exactly a week before the summer 2025 transfer window opened on 1 June 2025.
I have a feeling a big month was lost initially, with Newcastle United almost certainly having to wait until the new financial year (1 July 2025) before making any significant signings, due to the PSR situation. We will never know if Joao Pedro could have been signed if the Newcastle United owners had been able to act as soon as that summer 2025 transfer window opened at the start of June 2025.
As for the Hugo Ekitike situation, Liverpool approached Newcastle United to try and sign Alexander Isak. Newcastle United said no and Liverpool then went and signed Hugo Ekitike themselves. It is always easier with hindsight but you have to think a willingness to accept at that point Isak was determined to leave, could have seen the Newcastle United owners agree to sell the Swedish forward and in return Liverpool agreeing to not get involved with Ekitike.
I think a lot of mistakes were made last summer by those at Newcastle United, on top other factors such as the PSR position impacting. The fact the club were left with no Sporting Director or CEO working at Newcastle United throughout last summer didn’t exactly help.
There have been claims that the move by the Premier League to SCR (Squad Cost Ratio) from PSR will give Newcastle United more flex in terms of how much they can spend on signings this summer. The 2025/26 season will also see record Newcastle United revenues generated.
David Hopkinson is now in place as CEO and Ross Wilson the Sporting Director.
Ahead of meeting the Newcastle United owners eleven months ago, Eddie Howe said:“We are looking to reverse what we did last summer.”
At that time he was referring to the fact that Newcastle United had ended up having to sell both Yankuba Minteh and Elliot Anderson in June 2024 due to the PSR position at the time, then were also unable to sign any first team contenders during that summer 2024 window.
Fair to say that now we are all hoping for a far more positive summer 2026 than Newcastle United ended up with in summer 2025.
When the Newcastle United owners fly in next week, hopefully that is the starting point of moving forward once again, on and off the pitch.