What happened?! - A balanced view on a brutal summer at Newcastle United

The last three months have been draining, chaotic and have ultimately ended in disappointing fashion, as we ended Friday's deadline day with No Marc Guehi, no new right-winger and no signing that improves last season's starting 11.

Fans have been left confused and frustrated, Darren Eales and Paul Mitchell are under pressure and must explain what's gone on and there's a feeling that Eddie Howe hasn't been backed, even if PSR limited some of our spending power once again.

So, what did go wrong? What happened?

The Dan Ashworth saga dragged on and the end of June's PSR deadline was a total mess, not only forcing us to sell two of your best young talents to avoid a points deduction, but seeing us flirt with the idea of selling Anthony Gordon in the process. The fact we let ourselves get in such a desperate situation was a huge concern.

Amanda Staveley and Mehrdad Ghodoussi's exits followed soon after, which felt sad and destabilising given their passion, importance to the PIF takeover and rapport with Howe, players and fans. Then, in early July, Paul Mitchell was appointed as our new sporting director. A smart appointment based on his pedigree, but a bit late in the transfer window considering his "90% recruitment" remit meant a totally new dynamic for Howe and a likely reset of transfer plans just as we should've been moving for top targets.

Taking it back slightly, I do wonder if not signing Tosin Adarabioyo felt like an early blow that scrambled our plans, as I imagine his 'free transfer' would've allowed the bulk of our remaining budget to be spent on a top right-winger in the months that remained. That isn't an excuse for what followed, however. We had plenty of time to reset our plans and ultimately failed to sign two of our top priorities in the three months that followed.

I understand the need to avoid panic buys, to sign the "right players" and avoid wasting money on deals that don't make sense or could backfire in time, but we've known all year that we needed a centre-back and right-winger. It's hard to believe how we've not managed to recruit either when a decent wedge of money was there and we had so long to prepare and push for two priority positions Howe’s XI was crying out for.

It also feels like we allowed ourselves to get into yesterdays desperate deadline day position by spending too long on Marc Guehi. You could argue he was never worth £70m, despite ticking so many boxes, yet he seemed to take up so much of our time over the final month of the window, only to remain at Crystal Palace. Perhaps there was genuine alternatives that were pursued - Tapsoba, Thiaw and Simakan were all mentioned at different points - but we don't know if they were happy to come, with so many factors determining whether a deal is do-able.

On outgoings, we appear to have been poor sellers again. I have some sympathy, as it's not easy moving on deadwood who are on big money, often injured and/or have seen their careers go a bit stale - Hayden, Lewis and Targett come to mind - but this summer felt like the right time to sell the likes of Callum Wilson, Miguel Almiron and perhaps even Kieran Trippier based on their age, contract situation and the fact it may have been our last window to get a half decent fee. We'll never know the ins and outs behind each case, but I am surprised to see the lack of 'player trading' that Eales talked up a few months ago to help us work within the world of PSR.

Moving forwards, there are some real positives to hold onto - we kept our three prized assets in Bruno Guimaraes, Alexander Isak and Anthony Gordon, the brilliant Sandro Tonali is back and genuinely 'like a new signing', key players who were injured last season can have a big impact this year (Pope, Barnes, Willock, Joelinton) and Howe didn't leave for England.

There has been some decent signings, too. Lloyd Kelly is a handy squad option who improves our depth on the left-side of our defence and I am hopeful Will Osula can develop into a good Premier League striker under Howe. He has the raw tools to make it as a 6ft 4' unit with bags of pace, a great coach to learn from and gives us another much-needed option up top given how often Wilson is injured.

However, back to our fears moving forward following a poor window, our failure to qualify for European football has put pressure on the need for a big 2024/25 - not only to keep this 'ambitious project' moving forwards but to make sure we are in a position to keep world class talents like Bruno and Isak this time next year. That has to be part of our thinking and some will say we’ve failed them if our lack of signings has limited Howe and the player’s ability to make another top four push?

We can still have a good season, but we've cocked up this summer on too many fronts and have to learn from our mistakes - and quickly - if we're serious about becoming a club that regular competes for Champions League football alongside the 'big six.'

Here's hoping for a strong end to 2024 on the pitch and a much better 2025 off it, where we should have plenty of 'headroom' from a PSR perspective and money to spend after very little investment over the past two transfer windows.

Howay the lads.