Former Borussia Dortmund manager Lucien Favre and former England international Frank Lampard are two of the candidates to succeed Steve Bruce as manager of Newcastle United.
Although there is a desire for a quick decision and for Bruce’s dismissal to be confirmed by the club as soon as possible, there is understandably a lot of work to be done with a number of voices competing for attention in and around the consortium.
As a result, the list of candidates to replace Bruce has yet to be finalized, though Favre and Lampard are both on it.
Favre was fired by Dortmund at the end of last season and turned down the opportunity to manage Crystal Palace in the summer because he was wary of taking on a club in the Premier League’s bottom half.
It remains to be seen whether that changes following a meeting with Newcastle’s new owners, but they would be able to provide far more financial support than he would have received at Palace.
Lampard, like Favre, is out of work and could take over quickly if they decide to offer him the job.
It remains to be seen if Steven Gerrard, another former England legend and current Rangers manager, is interested in the job.
Meanwhile, following the completion of their takeover last week, Newcastle United’s new owners, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, do not want to inflame tensions or fuel wild expectations as they keep a close eye on St James’ Park.
That is why manager Steve Bruce returned to work at the training ground on Monday morning, despite the fact that the club is widely expected to fire him before the weekend match against Tottenham Hotspur.
PIF has not signed off on leaving the club’s management to others, despite the fact that they are leaving the club’s management to others.
The task of finding a new manager has been assigned to two new directors, Amanda Staveley and Jamie Reuben, though they are being advised by different people, so there are many names circulating.
Even after they have agreed on who to approach about the manager’s position, it must be approved by PIF, who insists on making all final decisions even though they operate out of the public eye.
Newcastle’s new chairman, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, has written an open letter in the local newspaper, the Newcastle Chronicle, but that is likely to be the last we hear from the PIF in the near future.
The Saudis are aware of the controversy surrounding the takeover, and a source told Telegraph Sport that they want to “manage expectations” in the early stages of the project rather than making any bold statements or promises.
As things stand, the Saudis, who own 80% of the club, are paying close attention to everything that happens at St James’ Park, with some suggesting that this is effectively a trial period for their consortium partners in terms of running the club and developing a long-term strategy.
With that in mind, PIF is content to keep financier Amanda Staveley as the public face of the takeover, despite the fact that the search for a Chief Executive Officer is one of the most pressing issues on the agenda.
They will also appoint a Sporting Director, and it is likely that these two appointments will define the first stage of the project because they will do the majority of the heavy lifting in terms of both football operations and business operations.
Staveley admitted in one of her many interviews last week that she is aware that she will be replaced if the consortium makes a mistake during the early stages of the football revolution unleashed on Tyneside.
It may be several months before we hear directly from Al-Rumayyan, as there are no plans for him to add to what he has said so far in two pre-prepared statements, but PIF owns the club and has the final say on everything that happens at St James’ Park.
It is reasonable to assume that they will not remain in the background for long.
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