There has been plenty of talk about a possible takeover in recent days but the more pressing issue is Newcastle’s immediate financial future.
We saw earlier this week that the club was placing non-playing staff on furlough due to an inability to pay wages, and that could have long-term drawbacks.
The Daily Mail’s Craig Hope has provided an update in regard to that, confirming that our scouting team has now been shut down, with staff in that department likely included in the contingent that will be placed on furlough.
Do you trust Steve Bruce in the transfer market?
Yes
No
It will be interesting to see what type of role Steve Nickson has in the foreseeable future, too, as he remains the club’s the head of recruitment.
NUFC scouting team shut down. No access to video analysis from home & cannot undertake any club work under terms of furlough. Club emails disabled. Summer targets already identified but no date given on return to work. Agents informed via text from recruitment head Steve Nickson https://t.co/YlS4gn2mNA
— Craig Hope (@CraigHope_DM) April 1, 2020
The only positive from the news is that summer targets have reportedly been identified, showing that Steve Bruce knows exactly what he wants in order to improve the areas of weakness in his squad.
That gives others the opportunity to work on bringing players in who the manager wants, rather than seeking other targets without Bruce’s knowledge.
There is a big downside, however. If the club fails to add those reinforcements then we are in danger of becoming desperate or adding players who are not good enough to improve us.
Hope suggests further work on analysing reported targets will no longer be possible because of the lack of people working, and that means we could trudge into unknown territory when it comes to recruitment.
As a result, while we face short-term difficulty there could also be repercussions felt over the forthcoming months and possibly years if the club is burdened with players who fall beneath the required standard.