Why Newcastle's history makers are breaking up

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• Published2 hours ago

The calls for a speech grew louder and louder inside a wild dressing room at Wembley.

Newcastle United had just made history by ending a 70-year wait for a major domestic trophy when a hush descended and a champagne-soaked Eddie Howe finally addressed his players after carrying out his media duties.

It was a moment which stuck with former striker Callum Wilson following his side's 2-1 victory against Liverpool in the 2025 League Cup final.

"When he did come back in, it was one of emotion," said Wilson, who will return to Tyneside with West Ham on Sunday (17:30 BST).

"It was something that the club hadn't achieved for a long time, that we had always strove to achieve as a team."

This momentous win felt like it could be a springboard for a side who went on to qualify for the Champions League just a few months later.

However, in some ways, it was the beginning of the end.

Alexander Isak spoke at Wembley about how there were "bright days in front of us", but the striker ended up pushing to join Liverpool for a British record £125m in the hope of winning even bigger prizes.

Kieran Trippier, who set up Dan Burn's opener that day, is moving on this summer as Newcastle begin to lower the average age of the squad.

There is ongoing uncertainty surrounding the situation of fellow cup final starter Fabian Schar after he entered the final weeks of his contract.

Elsewhere, Anthony Gordon, who was suspended for last season's showpiece, has attracted formal interest from Bayern Munich, albeit there is currently a gap in valuation between the two clubs.

There are also question marks surrounding the long-term futures of Tino Livramento and Sandro Tonali.

Newcastle's final home game of the season could therefore prove a St James' Park farewell for a number of influential figures on Sunday.

Evolution is natural, of course, and brings with it potentially exciting possibilities, but 13th-placed Newcastle have to get this rebuild right following a turbulent window last summer.

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Learning lessons from the past

The tone was set before the window even opened.

Howe was a couple of days into a family holiday in Canada when the club's then sporting director Paul Mitchell announced he was leaving.

It came as a bolt out of the blue.

There may have been previously well-documented tension between the pair, but Mitchell's departure was far from a result for Howe, particularly when former chief executive Darren Eales was already on medical leave and receiving treatment after being diagnosed with a chronic form of blood cancer.

With no sporting director or chief executive in place for the most pivotal summer window in Newcastle's recent history, Howe privately felt there was an "unusual dynamic" as the club "tried to make the best of the situation".

Lessons have needed to be learned.

Rather than going head-to-head with Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester City and Manchester United for so many top targets, like they did last summer, Newcastle are going to have to be a little cuter, particularly with an inferior wage bill and potentially no form of European football whatsoever.

Newcastle have since widened their recruitment network. They are bidding to make smarter use of data after sporting director Ross Wilson walked into a club whose operation was way behind what he left at Nottingham Forest last October. Scouts are seeking undervalued talents and promising players with the potential to grow in the years to come.

Striking earlier will be key.

It had never been the intention for Newcastle to do the bulk of their summer business after the campaign had already started, but club chiefs will look to get deals over the line more swiftly this time around to ensure new arrivals have time to work with Howe in pre-season, even if the World Cup is admittedly an added complication.

Similarly, as much as Newcastle only want to sell players on "our terms", senior figures recognise the need to trade to reinvest and do not want a repeat of the Isak saga, which dragged on until the club finally buckled on deadline day last September.

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'You have to speak one language together'

Such plans do not always come to fruition, of course, given the unpredictability of the market.

But Howe believes Newcastle now have an executive structure in place to at least enable smarter and faster decisions to be made following the arrival of chief executive David Hopkinson and sporting director Wilson, who worked at Southampton from 2015-19.

Unlike last summer, when Howe was at the coalface, while also preparing the team for the new season, the head coach will be able to fall back on Wilson's support, as former Southampton boss Ralph Hasenhuttl explained.

"Ross knows exactly what is necessary and what character you need to have in what moment," he said of their time together.

"For every coach it's a fantastic thing to work with him because he's very unselfish and doesn't have any ego. He's not trying to push in the media.

"He wants to stay behind and do his job in the background. You have to speak one language together."

The absence of a sporting director was felt at key moments last summer, when it came to dealing with agents and handling the Isak situation.

Wilson will be a key figure in managing potential sales as the club look to adopt a more strategic trading model following some challenging windows.

In June 2024, for instance, £65m was raised following the departures of one player who was not necessarily a regular starter and another who had never represented the club.

It appeared decent business on the face of it until you realise the players were Elliot Anderson and Yankuba Minteh, who were only sold to Nottingham Forest and Brighton at the 11th hour in order to avoid a breach of profit and sustainability rules (PSR) following years of imbalanced trading.

If those deals have aged badly, in hindsight, the £125m Newcastle received for Isak seems a good sale given the striker's injury-disrupted first season at Liverpool.

However, Newcastle are still feeling the Swede's absence, even after spending £124m on forwards Nick Woltemade and Yoane Wissa.

If key players like Gordon are to go this summer, Newcastle have to rebuild more effectively as the club look to bounce back following a bruising domestic campaign.

"If a big signing leaves the football club, there will be a dent to us," Howe said on Friday. "That's why they're the players that are valued the most."

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