Newcastle United's sporting director, Ross Wilson, has disclosed that the club began preparing for Eddie Howe's eventual departure at the beginning of this year, long before the manager actually stepped down in late July.
Howe's exit came just three weeks before the start of the new Premier League season, prompting Newcastle to move swiftly to appoint Matthias Jaissle, who had reportedly emerged as the club's preferred candidate to take over. According to Wilson, who joined Newcastle from Nottingham Forest roughly 10 to 11 months ago, contingency planning for a managerial change had been ongoing for the better part of the year.
"Eddie leaving didn't feel chaotic and it didn't feel painful," Wilson said. "Eddie would be the first to tell you that. I came here 10 or 11 months ago and I've been planning in the background for a managerial change over eight or nine of those months. That doesn't mean we were always going to go to Matthias, but he was always part of our planning."
Interestingly, when this planning process began, the expectation inside the club was that Howe might be lured away by a rival rather than leave on his own terms. However, Newcastle's disappointing 12th-place finish last season, combined with the departures of Anthony Gordon and Sandro Tonali, appeared to shift Howe's own outlook, and he ultimately opted to step away.
Wilson was quick to praise Howe's legacy at the club, including guiding Newcastle to the 2025 Carabao Cup. "Big respect to Eddie for the job he did for us over a long period of time," he said. "He did a wonderful job bringing that trophy. He's a club legend, for sure."
Despite the abrupt nature of the announcement, Wilson insisted the club's readiness allowed for a smooth transition. "Clearly the timing wasn't planned," he explained. "But the reason we could move so quickly was because we'd been preparing for a number of months. Eddie's an exceptionally talented coach and that meant he was probably going to do something else at some point. We had to be prepared for that."
The managerial change coincided with a turbulent summer transfer window, driven partly by Newcastle's need to comply with a settlement agreement reached with UEFA after breaching European financial regulations last season. The sales of Gordon and Tonali, worth close to £170 million combined, were central to meeting those requirements. However, Wilson admitted that losing Bruno Guimarães to Arsenal for £75 million was a blow the club had hoped to avoid.
"There's no point pretending otherwise: we did not want to lose Bruno Guimarães," Wilson said. "That was really disappointing. But everything else that happened during the window was planned."
To replace Guimarães, Newcastle signed midfielder Nico González from Manchester City for £52 million, one of eight players aged 24 or under brought in during the summer. Wilson explained that all incoming players were selected for their suitability to a demanding, high-press style of football favored by both Howe and now Jaissle.
"I cannot imagine Newcastle United playing a style of football that isn't aggressive, vertical and attacking," Wilson said. "For this club to be successful we have to play an attacking, high-press, proactive style and we had to find a coach to do that."
Jaissle, who joined from Al-Ahli for a £10 million fee, was identified through data-driven scouting models as the ideal fit. "Matthias was the No 1 choice. It was really, really clear," Wilson said, describing the summer as "busy" but ultimately rewarding, given the simultaneous demands of managing the coaching change and the transfer window "in complete secrecy."
Newcastle's chief executive, David Hopkinson, expressed confidence that the club can break into the traditional "big six" hierarchy by 2030, provided they remain compliant with financial regulations. "We're going to be consistently and credibly competing for those top prizes," Hopkinson said.
Based on reporting from Guardian Football.