The former Al-Ahli head coach, chosen by the Saudi owners to replace Eddie Howe, admits \u2018vacuum\u2019 after sale of three key players<\/p>\n
Matthias Jaissle has been described as \u201cfire\u201d and a \u201crockstar\u201d, but his formal \u201cunveiling\u201d as Newcastle\u2019s manager revealed a rather more considered and conservative character than advertised.<\/p>\n
At the precise moment the clock struck 3pm on Tuesday the 38\u2011year\u2011old German walked into a packed media suite at St James\u2019 Park. Before taking his seat on the stage Jaissle, wearing a smartly understated open-necked suit complete with a silk pocket square, took a deep breath and jumped down into audience, making a point of shaking everyone\u2019s hand. It was a courteous and classy gesture.<\/p>\n
Once back on that podium, his evident excitement at exchanging Saudi Arabia\u2019s Al-Ahli for the Premier League was tempered by the sort of realism inevitable at a club that, in Anthony Gordon, Sandro Tonali and Bruno Guimar\u00e3es, has just sold its three best players.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is now a vacuum as you call it,\u201d Eddie Howe\u2019s successor said in his excellent English. \u201cThey were great characters, great players, \u00adexperienced players. Obviously we are in that transition phase. My job is to make the best out of it all. I am quite optimistic. We are ambitious, that\u2019s the most important thing and why I decided to come here. But it will not happen overnight. I\u2019m pretty sure it will be a successful story. But we need time now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Regular chats with the England head coach, Thomas Tuchel, promise to help minimise any culture shock. \u201cIt\u2019s been a long connection,\u201d he said. \u201cThomas was my youth coach when I was a youth player at Stuttgart. He was amazing, I really admire him.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a really special coach and I\u2019m looking forward to staying in touch with him, and getting insights on the\u00a0league. That\u2019s something I want to use for sure. But it\u2019s also important to build your own opinions because every coach is their own human being and has their opinions and, \u00adsometimes players get stuck in a box.\u00a0It\u2019s \u00adimportant for me to be neutral about players.\u201d<\/p>\n
Allied to a willingness to chall\u00adenge assumptions, such refusal to take labels at face value hinted at the qualities that prompted David \u00adHopkinson, Newcastle\u2019s Canadian chief executive, to dub Jaissle \u201cfire\u201d and \u201ca rock star\u201d.<\/p>\n
If the one-time RB Salzburg manager\u2019s brand of football \u2013 \u201cfront foot, intense, aggressive, vertical and, of course, also successful\u201d \u2013 fits the latter tag, Newcastle fans have greeted him with an adaptation of a late 1970s Euro-disco hit.<\/p>\n
Where the Spanish female pop duo Baccara soared to No 1 with Yes,\u00a0Sir\u00a0I\u00a0Can Boogie, travelling supporters attending the friendly win in Valencia last Saturday chorused: \u201cOh\u00a0Jaissle I can boogie\/You try me once, you\u2019ll beg for more.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jaissle said: \u201cAll my staff members already said they\u2019re looking forward to sitting after a match in the bar and listening to the song. So let\u2019s see about that! I heard it once and I was smiling. I\u2019m really happy the fans already appreciate me a lot. The welcome from the fans was unbelievable when I was having a walk yesterday in the city. It was really giving me a nice feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n
There were more \u201cbig smiles\u201d when he recalled a phone call last month asking him if he would be interested in replacing Howe but, little more than 48 hours after arriving in Newcastle for the first time following a training camp at La Manga in southern Spain, Jaissle is under no illusions as to the scale of the challenge ahead.<\/p>\n
Kick off your evenings with the Guardian's take on the world of football<\/p>\n
With the need to comply with football\u2019s spending rules having seen the club pivot to buying young players with high resale potential \u2013 four of their five summer signings so far are aged 20 or younger \u2013 the immediate future remains opaque.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m long enough in the industry now that you cannot promise anything,\u201d Jaissle said when asked what he aimed to achieve this season. \u201cIt makes no sense to promise you things now because I don\u2019t know how things will look in one year. But it doesn\u2019t make sense to see the negative. There will be more adjustments to the squad this summer. We still have time. I would say keep the optimism.\u201d<\/p>\n