Sports

Newcastle Success Will Take Longer After Transfer Angst – Howe

Published

2 years ago

August 30, 2024

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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

Related Topics:HOWE Newcastle Premier League

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International News

Barcelona Seals New Deal With Head Coach Flick

Published

19 hours ago

May 18, 2026

thecolumnng

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Barcelona completes contract renewal with head coach Hansi Flick, per official announcement.

According to Fabrizio Romano, Flick’s new contract with Barcelona runs until June 2028, with an option to extend until June 2029, meaning the coach could stay for three more seasons.

In his first season in charge, Flick led the team to a domestic treble of La Liga, Copa del Rey and Spanish Super Cup.

This season, Barcelona won the Spanish Super Cup again and retained the La Liga title, bringing his total to five trophies in two seasons.

Entertainment

Erling Haaland Makes Acting Debut In Animated Film

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19 hours ago

May 18, 2026

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Erling Haaland will follow in the footsteps of David Beckham and Vinnie Jones by taking his first steps into the acting world, with the Norwegian striker set to make his film debut.

The Manchester City striker will voice a character described as ‘an animated version of himself’, in the upcoming animated film Viqueens.

This is according to the Hollywood Reporter, who say that the 25-year-old is playing a Viking called Haaland in the motion picture.

The adventure-comedy is directed and co-written by the award-winning Harald Zwart, the Norwegian director known for The Karate Kid and Agent Cody Banks.

‘As a Norwegian storyteller making a Viking adventure for a global audience, having Erling Haaland join feels incredibly exciting,’ said Zwart.

‘Erling has already become a kind of real-life Viking icon around the world – powerful, fearless and uniquely Norwegian.

‘Bringing him into this universe as himself gives the film an unexpected energy and authenticity that felt completely right for this story.’

Solveig Langeland, managing director of Sola Media, added: ‘Erling Haaland transcends sports – he’s a global cultural figure.

‘His involvement brings another exciting dimension to a film that already combines international adventure, humour, and emotional storytelling in a way we believe will resonate with audiences everywhere.’

He follows the likes of Beckham and Jones, who have already hit the cinema screens around the country.

Beckham made his silver screen debut in his pal Guy Ritchie’s King Arthur back in 2017 alongside film stars Charlie Hunnam and Eric Bana, playing hardened battleguard Trigger in the flick.

Meanwhile, Jones is known for portraying gangsters on screen, and as recently as 2024 played gamekeeper Geoff in Ritchie’s series The Gentlemen, featuring Theo James.

He famously also played Coach Dinklage in She’s the Man, and was The Juggernaut in X-Men: The Last Stand.

Haaland may need a while before he becomes the big actor that Jones has become, though, with plenty of years on the pitch still ahead of him.

The striker’s focus will currently be on winning the Premier League with Manchester City, as they look to hunt down Arsenal, who are two points ahead at the top, with two games to go.

Haaland will next be in action on Tuesday night as they travel to Bournemouth.

International News

Iran squad travel to Turkey for friendlies, US visas

Published

21 hours ago

May 18, 2026

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Iran’s national football team was headed to Turkey on Monday to play a final friendly match and apply for visas to fly to the United States for the 2026 World Cup, Iranian media reported.

The team plan to participate in the tournament despite co-host Washington having launched a war against Iran with a massive wave of attacks alongside ally Israel on February 28.

The fighting has been on hold for weeks thanks to a ceasefire, but peace talks have failed to make a breakthrough and new drone attacks against Gulf countries at the weekend combined with threats from US President Donald Trump raising fears of a return to fighting.

The team “departed this morning for Antalya, Turkey to play its final friendly match before flying to the United States for the 2026 World Cup,” the Tasnim news agency reported.

It said the squad consisted of 22 domestic-based players alongside their coaching staff.

On Saturday, head coach Amir Ghalenoei said they would also be completing visa applications for the US while in Turkey.

– ‘Let ’em play’ –

Iran secured their spot at the World Cup in March 2025, but since then the United States has twice launched attacks on the country.

US officials have insisted that Iran is welcome at the tournament, while organiser FIFA has said it will go ahead as planned and rejected Iranian suggestions that their games be moved to co-hosts Mexico or Canada.

“I think let ’em play,” Trump said in late April.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said any problem would not be with Iranian players but “some of the other people (they) would want to bring with them”, suggesting they may have ties to the Revolutionary Guards, which Washington has branded a terrorist organisation.

Last month, officials from Iran’s football federation abandoned a trip to the FIFA congress in Canada, saying they had been “insulted” by Canadian immigration officers.

One of their delegation, Mehdi Taj, is a former member of the Revolutionary Guards, which Canada has also designated a terror group.

The Iranian football team hope to play two friendlies in Antalya.

They have already confirmed one match, against The Gambia, on May 29, said Sam Mehdizadeh, an Iranian-Canadian who heads a company that sets up friendlies for the team.

“No visas have been issued yet,” Taj, the head of Iran’s football federation, told Iranian media on Thursday.

On Saturday, FIFA secretary general Mattias Grafstrom held a meeting in Turkey with the federation, describing it as constructive, as did Taj.

When the squad reaches the United States, Iran will set up their base camp in Tucson, Arizona.

The team, who are in Group G, are due to kick off their campaign against New Zealand in Los Angeles on 15 June, before facing Belgium in the same city and then Egypt in Seattle.

AFP