Amanda Staveley believes Eddie Howe picked up a group of players who “weren’t fit enough” following a lack of “intense training” during Steve Bruce’s time at the club.
Speaking to The Athletic, Staveley also claims that the squad was “disjointed” under the former NUFC boss who “needed to go” following the Saudi-backed takeover at St James’ Park.
She also addresses complaints that the new owners should’ve ‘acted quicker’ in sacking Steve Bruce, insisting they had to “take stock of everything” and “find out what the issues were” before making their next move.
Here’s what she had to say about Bruce, criticising the fitness levels an lack of togetherness he left behind on Tyneside:
“[He] ultimately needed to go.
“People were saying ‘why didn’t you act quicker’, but we had to take stock of everything and find out what the issues were.
“We had to get the building blocks in place before we hit the transfer window.
“In my opinion, we weren’t fit enough. They just hadn’t had intense training.
“They were disjointed, not working together. We had to get that sense of oneness, of belonging, of being united.”
Staveley then explained what they were prioritising in their search for Bruce’s replacement, revealing that club chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan wanted Eddie Howe from “day one” – despite some being tempted by Unai Emery’s successful track record:
“We needed somebody who could deliver today and who understood the relegation battle,”
“We got down to two people. Eddie was one of them and Unai Emery the other.
“Unai had a track record of success and maybe that made us move towards him a bit more.
“I have to say, though, that the chairman (Yasir Al-Rumayyan) wanted Eddie from day one.”
Co-owner Mehrdad Ghodoussi then had this to say about their ‘process-driven’ approach, revealing that a list of 30-40 names were considered before Howe and Emery were shortlisted:
“This phrase has been thrown around a lot, but the reason we’re process-driven is because we want to make the right decisions, not knee-**** decisions.
“The wrong decisions would have been a disaster. We have a long-term view.”
“The whole universe of coaches [were looked at].
“We were looking at a list of, say, 30-40 names and then narrowed it down in terms of our requirements.”
14 years of hurt are now being abolished, we now dare to dream of a NEWCASTLE who are now UNITED. I just wish I was 40 years younger, but at least the young GEORDIES can look forward to many years of entertaining football and trophies.
Steff Bedlington(Quote)