Newcastle United’s new owners have been forced to start a fresh search for a successor to Steve Bruce after they were left dumbfounded by Unai Emery’s dramatic decision to walk away from a deal the club thought had been agreed.
Emery, the former Paris Saint-Germain and Arsenal manager, issued a statement declaring that he would stay with Villarreal. This decision came after weeks of negotiations involving the Newcastle director Amanda Staveley and her husband Mehrdad Ghodoussi, whose Saudi-backed consortium took control of the club almost a month ago.
The Times has learnt that all of Emery’s wage demands — led by his advisers, which included his brother, Igor — had been met and that a backroom staff had been put together to assist him at Newcastle, who are 19th in the table and six points adrift of safety in the Premier League.
In his final interview on Sunday, via Zoom, with Staveley, Ghodoussi, the club chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan, a representative of Saudi Arabia’s public investment fund (PIF) that owns 80 per cent of the club, and the co-owner Jamie Reuben, the 50-year-old Spaniard spoke of his passion for the job and how he would reorganise the team’s defence, and indicated his willingness to leave Villarreal. “He said all the right things on Sunday,” revealed a source.
Indeed the Newcastle board members were so confident that they had landed the replacement for Bruce, who was sacked on October 17, that they were prepared to fly Emery to the North East and push back first team training to accommodate his arrival. They were also committed to paying the €6 million (about £5.08 million) buyout clause in his Villarreal contract. However, there was a dramatic change of mood on Tuesday night after Emery’s Villarreal side had beaten Young Boys in the Champions League. Emery was made aware of how much speculation there had been about his impending return to England and the win helped to calm the mood of the club’s fans. He met Fernando Roig, the Villarreal president, to discuss his future and the club’s new project that has led to the signings of Arnaut Danjuma and Serge Aurier.
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In what has been described as a long night, Emery talked about all of his options before spending time with family — he was worried about the impact on them — and friends to further assess his next move, having left England scarred by his treatment at Arsenal.
There was a significant push for him to stay and to avoid taking on the Newcastle project at its very start, when there is no footballing management structure inside the club, as of yet. That was a problem he blamed for his failure and sacking at Arsenal, although it is believed the issue was addressed during his interview process.
One Spanish source said: “Because of all the noise and the insecurity he felt on the Newcastle project, he went with what he thinks is a common sense decision.”
The appointment of Newcastle’s new manager is the responsibility of Staveley, her husband and a board that includes Al-Rumayyan. The surprise at such a late change of heart from Emery was such that they were still trying to salvage the deal late on Wednesday morning.
Emery, who has won 11 major trophies in his managerial career, admitted he had already held talks with Newcastle on Tuesday night. On Wednesday afternoon he released a statement.
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“Honestly, I am grateful for the interest of a great club, but even more grateful to be here,” he said. “That is why I communicated to Fernando Roig my decision to continue being part of this project, thanks to the commitment and respect that I feel from the club and my players, which is mutual and reciprocal. For all the noise there was in another country, inside the club there was transparency and loyalty which for me is the most important thing. Villarreal is my home and I am 100 per cent committed.”
That decision means Newcastle must begin their managerial search again. The former Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe was also interviewed at the weekend, and was said to have impressed, highlighting areas of recruitment that the club needed to change.
Roberto Martínez, the Belgium manager, retains support and is believed to be interested in returning to club football.
It is thought that the interim Newcastle manager, Graeme Jones, who has worked with Martínez at Wigan and Everton and with Belgium, will remain in charge to take on Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday. Newcastle have taken only one point from the three games since the £305 million takeover on October 7, when Saudi Arabia’s public investment fund (PIF) took an 80 per cent holding.
Newcastle have still to put in place a management structure, although The Times understands that Brian Marwood, the managing director of global football at Manchester City, has been sounded out about a possible sports director role. He is thought to want any moves to go through the correct channels between the clubs.
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Newcastle have still to win a game this season — the joint second-worst start to a top-flight season in the club’s history.
