Please let it make sense – Absolute fear of losing best players to outrage when losing squad players

Even by Newcastle United standards, that was a rollercoaster ride.

Sunday was the new ‘first’ 2024 summer transfer window deadline for PSR purposes, the end of the accounting period for the 2023/24 season.

The actual proper traditional 2024 summer transfer window deadline is actually on Friday 30 August 2024, in 59 days time.

This ‘first’ deadline though saw frenzied activity, as Elliot Anderson joined Nottingham Forest and Yankuba Minteh signed for Brighton (Dan Ashworth also confirmed as having had his own ‘transfer’ release figure paid by Manchester United, to enable him to start work at Old Trafford).

Whilst on the other hand, we now have four new permanent deals (officially) confirmed as well, with Odysseas Vlachodimos, John Ruddy, Lewis Hall and Lloyd Kelly all set to be available for the 2024/25 season.

I want/need to backtrack though.

Concentrate on those deadline day sales of Yankuba Minteh (£33m) and Elliot Anderson (£35m).

Please let it make sense – Absolute fear of losing best players to then outrage when losing squad players.

I am of course talking about the reaction of many Newcastle United fans.

It was quite amazing how when the transfer window opened last month, it was all paranoid fear and doom and gloom, how clubs were queuing up and just a case of which one of them was going to spirit our talisman Bruno Guimaraes away for his £100m contract clause.

Yet when we got to the end of June 2024, Bruno Guimaraes and his now expired transfer release clause, not even worthy of a mention for these doom and gloom Newcastle United fans.

Instead, that outrage, that doom and gloom had been now focused overwhelmingly on selling/losing Yankuba Minteh and Elliot Anderson.

Instead of outrage at losing one of the best midfielders in the world, outrage at losing two young players for a combined £68m, who had between them only managed a grand total of 13 Premier League starts in their entire careers so far.

Two young players who if they had been at Newcastle United for the 2024/25 season, would have been nowhere near the first eleven.

Not saying that neither Anderson nor Minteh are good enough, or will be good enough in the future, simply a case of perspective.

I will save my tears for the day when we lose say Bruno and Isak, not two young players who we have no idea whether they will even make it in the Premier League.

Plus, as one or two other sane people have mentioned, if Newcastle United were really doing something desperately bad and these two young players were guaranteed superstars of the future, then why were Man City, Real Madrid and others not desperately fighting each other for their signatures. Rather than two bottom half of the Premier League clubs taking a punt on Minteh and Anderson making the necessary progress to become Premier League regulars?

I think it was a joke that things were allowed to go so close to the wire and the likes of the Newcastle United owners and/or Darren Eales should be telling us exactly why they put the club in this position.

However, the end result of Newcastle United selling two young inexperienced players for £68m who are yet to show they can make it in the Premier League, then generating that kind of revenue in return for two players who cost NUFC a maximum of £7m in transfer fees, is a massive win.

This PSR short-term serious issue that had to be dealt with, was surely all about protecting our (excellent) first choice 11, plus indeed others who I would rank far ahead of Anderson and Minteh at this moment in time.

Job done and we move on.