Newcastle United's Saudi-based backers PIF made it clear that they would do everything it took to land new sporting director Dan Ashworth in time for the start of the summer window. The United board members in the Middle East were eager to make Ashworth their first big summer addition and they now have their man.
United chiefs have a clear vision of what is needed in the next three months after meetings with Eddie Howe and head of recruitment Steve Nickson, but they now have the man to drive it in Ashworth, who has now left Brighton & Hove Albion. It is the second executive appointment in the space of weeks at St James' Park after director Majed Al Sorour was announced earlier this month.
The board, especially those in the Middle East, are delighted with the team on Tyneside after Amanda Staveley, Mehrdad Ghodoussi and Jamie Reuben guided them through their first season. All three, of course, remain on board for the years to come and after clearing the first hurdle of survival the owners are excited about the 2022/23 campaign.
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But now the aim is to ensure that by the time the summer window closes, Newcastle have a squad equipped to challenge in the top half of the table. After years of relegation battles, Chronicle Live understands those at the top want to give fans a team worthy of their support.
It's worth recapping what Toon supremo said on arrival last autumn Yasir Al-Rumayyan. Back then he stated: "I also wanted to give you an understanding of what you can expect from us as owners and what our plans are for your club at this stage.
"Most importantly, you can expect ambition. Like you, we want to create a consistently successful team. We’re here to build long-term success for the club."
After staving off relegation early - and from what looked like an impossible position - Newcastle can now start laying the foundations for a better future. With Ashworth now in place they have every chance.
Ashworth is eager to start work straight away and will look to plan conference calls and meetings with the likes of Howe in due course. Once his announcement and introduction to supporters is over he will then begin a job that will see him very much working in the background at Newcastle.
His first key task will be to reduce the size of the squad but the need for four or five quality additions is also high on his agenda. Howe has already made his recommendations to the powers that be.
Howe said before the summer break: "It's the right player for the position. You do have to have an eye on the future. I don't think you can be blind to the fact that if you have a squad that's at the wrong age then you can give yourself problems one, two, three years down the line. We don't want to put ourselves in that position."
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