10 Stages Of Newcastle United's 2015 Summer Transfer Window
6. A Cursory Call For Patience
The transfer window was scarcely 48 hours old when Newcastle made a predictable, and fairly gratuitous, plea for patience to supporters, via the curious medium of an articulate email composed by Steve McClaren and dispatched to the inboxes of season-ticket holders. It could be considered a damning indictment of Newcastles obtuse recruitment policy that McClaren, barely a month into the job as head coach, had to flex his reputed PR muscles in a thinly-veiled effort to pacify supporters, restless as they waited for conclusive proof of the clubs ambition in the summer transfer market. They have, however, been here before with Alan Pardew, whose contemptible petitions to Newcastles unwaveringly dedicated supporters to "stay behind the team" in the times of strife irrevocably scarred his reputation. Pardew suffered as a result of his willingness to be the mouthpiece for an aloof regime and it would be a pity if McClaren followed the same path of subservience. McClaren assured supporters the club is "working hard" behind the scenes to build an exciting squad and there is a long-term plan in place to ensure Newcastle are equipped with a team capable of sustaining itself in the top-half of the Premier League. It was slightly on the nose and what youd expect from a new manager, but it marks the beginning of the clubs revised approach to regularly communicating with supporters, and McClaren comes across as nothing less than engaging. Yet, was it entirely necessary? Suffice to say, supporters were bound to greet the email with a degree of incredulity and an impassive eye-roll, conscious of the fact that the clubs hired PR guns more than likely combed through the contents before giving McClaren the green light to click the send button. Its this climate of suspicion and cynicism that Newcastle need to extinguish if supporters are to forgo querying whether McClarens sentiments were completely forthright or if he was merely paying lip service to fretful fans.
