The new owners of Newcastle United have wasted no time in setting the bar high in terms of their own expectations of where they expect the club to be within five years.
After one of the most prolonged takeover attempts in football history finally came to a conclusion on Thursday, Mike Ashley’s deal with the Saudi Arabian PIF (Public Investment Fund) being ratified by the Premier League, Amanda Staveley, who had brokered the deal, suggested that the Magpies could win the English top-flight in that time frame, per The Times.
Noting also that she’d like Newcastle to become as big as Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain, two other clubs that are owned by Middle Eastern interests, an aggressive transfer policy over the next few windows seems almost certain.
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Steve Bruce is likely to be the first casualty of the new regime as they seek to bring in staff on both the playing and coaching side that are commensurate with their ambitions.
For all of his attributes, of which there are many despite what Newcastle fans may have you believe, Bruce isn’t title-winning material as a manager.
That could probably apply to a number of first-team players too, and though a root and branch clear out wouldn’t be advisable at the outset, it would be a surprise if the make up of the squad in a couple of seasons time was similar to how it is currently.
The potential exciting times ahead will need to be tempered with the knowledge that things are going to change significantly for the Toon Army.
With Ashley now gone, however, it appears that the locals may be ready to embrace some long-overdue changes.