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Newcastle Success Will Take Longer After Transfer Angst – Howe

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File photo of Newcastle English manager Eddie Howe. Lindsey Parnaby / AFP

 

Newcastle manager Eddie Howe admits success will take “a lot longer” to achieve for his club after a frustrating transfer window.

 

When Amanda Staveley helped complete the Saudi-backed takeover of Newcastle in 2021, she boldly claimed the Magpies could win the Premier league within a five to 10-year period.

 

But Newcastle’s progress has stalled since they qualified for the Champions League at the end of the 2022-23 season.

 

Staveley sold her minority shareholding in Newcastle during the close season and, while the Saudi wealth remains, Howe has found it difficult to splash the cash of late.

 

Efforts to strengthen his squad have been hampered by the Premier League’s profitability and sustainability rules, with Crystal Palace’s England defender Marc Guehi remaining beyond their grasp as the transfer window prepared to shut on Friday evening.

 

Asked on Friday if the club’s fans had been sold a false dream of future success, Howe said: “I don’t think the dream dies, necessarily, but I think it takes a lot longer.

 

“We’ve got to build our revenue streams, that is the biggest thing. We’ve got to bring more money into the football club however we do that, through player sales, through sponsorship, through loads of various things.

 

“That’s the big thing that we need to focus on now for the next, probably, 10 years.

 

“Whether I’m lucky enough to see any of that, who knows? But the dream is not over, it’s just going to take a lot, lot longer.”

 

Newcastle’s owners have invested more than £400 million ($526 million) in the squad since their arrival on Tyneside, but have made just one major signing — Italy midfielder Sandro Tonali — in the last three windows.

 

Howe also had to sell Elliot Anderson and Yankuba Minteh in a bid to comply with PSR limits amid speculation over the futures of key players Bruno Guimaraes, Alexander Isak and Anthony Gordon.

 

Last season’s seventh-place finish in the Premier League and exit from the Champions League group stage has increased the pressure on Howe to deliver this term.

 

He conceded Newcastle’s transfer travails have hardly helped his cause.

“I’m not going to sit here and say it’s been a brilliant transfer window for us. I think everyone will look at me and think, ‘I’m not sure he’s telling the truth there’. I do try as far as I can to tell the truth,” he said.

 

“But it’s not been through the want of trying from anybody’s perspective and I think for me to sit here and say that would be totally wrong as well. Everyone has tried really, really hard to improve the squad to make sure we’ve got a chance of success.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

AFP

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Iraola: My Fight With Isak Has Never Been About Goals

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Liverpool head coach Andoni Iraola says Alexander Isak is a “massive” player for him – but adds he “fights” with the player about needing to do more for the “collective”.

 

Isak scored twice in the opening nine minutes in the 2-0 win over Ipswich to take his tally to three for the season – but Iraola hinted the player needs to do more off the ball for the team.

“He’s a massive player for us,” he told Sky Sports. “My demands will not be about the goals: he’s fit, in a good shape and he will produce the numbers.

“But my fights with him are more about other stuff, how to help the team in other situations. But it’s good he has played two full games and today a good amount of minutes, scoring the goals.”

Iraola did not reveal which specific areas Isak needs to improve, but it could be interpreted that Iraola wants his striker to do more in the pressing.

“I will demand other things so we can play well,” he said in his post-match press conference about those demands to Isak. “And if we play well, we are in good positions, the goals will come.

“He has to contribute to the collective and when everyone helps, after the goals and results will come.”

Iraola also said to Sky: “Today we were much, much better in our press. We were recovering very high and then we can contact him in good positions.

“If we recover the ball lower, it will be more difficult to find him to have less spaces. So we need more quality effort to put our No 9 in situations like he had today.”

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‘It’s So Strong’ – Sabalenka Halts Play Over Cannabis Smell

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Aryna Sabalenka briefly halted her US Open match against Kamilla Rakhimova because of a strong smell of cannabis before cruising into the fourth round in New York.

 

Top seed Sabalenka raised the issue after going 3-0 up in the first set against Uzbekistan’s Rakhimova, telling umpire Eva Asderaki-Moore that “someone is smoking weed”.

The Belarusian asked the umpire to intervene “because it’s so strong”.

Asderaki-Moore spoke to an official on her radio and made a smoking gesture to someone behind her, before play continued.

Two-time defending champion Sabalenka went on to secure a confident 6-3 6-4 victory on Louis Armstrong Stadium as she chases a fifth Grand Slam singles title.

Sabalenka said afterwards she was not sure where the smell of cannabis was coming from but asked fans to be more mindful.

Smoking is not permitted on site at Flushing Meadows but the smell of cannabis sometimes wafts on to court from the nearby Corona Park.

It is legal to smoke it in New York for adults aged 21 and over.

“It’s a bit tricky to handle that smell while you’re trying to compete at your best,” Sabalenka said.

“I don’t know if it was coming from the crowd or was from the outside because the wind blows it into the stadium.

“I just hope they’re going to be a bit more aware of that stuff.”

Sabalenka is not the first player at this year’s US Open to complain about the smell of cannabis at Flushing Meadows.

Britain’s Katie Boulter previously said it was distracting, while Harriet Dart and Francesca Jones also noticed the smell.

In past years players including Novak Djokovic and Alexander Zverev have also complained.

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Onana Gets Twins As Salah Welcomes First Son Weeks After Joining Turkish Team

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Egyptian football star Mohamed Salah has welcomed his third child and first son, named Lail, Trabzonspor President Ertuğrul Doğan said after the Turkish club’s third-round league match against Amedspor.

 

Doğan said Salah and his Cameroonian teammate André Onana travelled outside Turkey following the match as their wives were due to give birth.

“After the Amed match, we travelled abroad with Onana and Salah. Onana welcomed twins, while Salah welcomed a baby boy. I congratulate their families and wives,” Doğan was quoted as telling Turkish media.

Salah’s sister, Rabab Salah, later revealed the baby’s name on Instagram, posting a photograph of a baby hat and congratulating her brother on the birth of Lail.

The child is Salah’s first son. The Egyptian star and his wife, Magi, already have two daughters, Makka and Kayan.

Doğan’s comments came after a photograph of Salah and Onana aboard a private jet circulated online, prompting questions among Trabzonspor supporters and local media about the reason for their trip.

The club president said both players had travelled for family reasons following the match.

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