The Mike Ashley and Steve Bruce era is well and truly over at Newcastle United, and the locals can look forward to hopefully seeing their team pull themselves away from the relegation mire over the course of the rest of the season.
Getting the right manager in to guide the first-team is of major importance, and it’s the first big decision that Amanda Staveley and her fellow directors have to get exactly right.
Not only will he set the standards expected and the playing style, but his relative success in the role will potentially see the opportunity to reignite support from the fan base.
Support that Bruce could’ve only dreamed about and which meant a toxic atmosphere each time the Magpies played at St. James Park.
According to The Chronicle, interim manager, Graeme Jones, has said he has been given guarantees over his own future at the club and will stay on as assistant manager at the very least.
That’s the first big mistake that the new owners have made since re-energising the community with the news of their takeover.
Jones, as competent as he may be, is a vestige of the Bruce regime and is as responsible as Bruce was for the way in which Newcastle played.
Whilst there’s an argument to be made about keeping some sort of continuity, any new manager will want to bring in his own backroom team.
Furthermore, Jones will always be associated with Newcastle’s failures of the last 10 months.