The 38-year-old German has one of the softer landings a struggling Premier League manager could ask for. Two 4-1 away defeats in a week, a home loss to Aston Villa and an angry fanbase have not shifted the mood inside St James’ Park, where sources say sacking him is not even under consideration.
That stance was reinforced on 18 October by transfer insider Pete O’Rourke, who said Jaissle “is still highly regarded within the Newcastle hierarchy.”
O’Rourke framed the slump as a product of transition rather than a verdict on the coach.
“Obviously it’s been a bit of a blip and it’s probably been the manner of those most recent away defeats against Leeds and Coventry,” he said.
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“Newcastle know it’s going to be a bit of an up-and-down season, because they’ve got a young squad and they’ve made major changes.”
Eight signings, three defeats, one shaky table
Newcastle sit 11th with eight points from seven matches, with two wins, two draws and three defeats. The low point has been a pair of 4-1 maulings away at Leeds United and Coventry City on either side of the international break, followed by a 1-0 home loss to Aston Villa.
The squad Jaissle is working with looks little like the one Eddie Howe left behind. Howe stepped down at the end of July, and Jaissle arrived on 5 August on a four-year deal, with Newcastle paying Al Ahli in excess of £9 million to prise him away from Saudi Arabia. Eight new players have come in this summer, and the German is still working them into a side that lost significant experience alongside Howe.
Al Ahli supporters launch a hashtag campaign
Pressure is also coming from a direction most managers never see. Al Ahli supporters launched a social media campaign demanding Newcastle sack Jaissle after the Aston Villa defeat.
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Their grievance is not Newcastle’s results but the manner of Jaissle’s exit from Jeddah. He left Al Ahli less than two weeks before the start of their season after a contract renewal fell through, having delivered back-to-back AFC Champions League Elite titles and ended the club’s nine-year wait for the Saudi Super Cup.
A £5m problem Newcastle would rather not have
If the Newcastle board did change its mind, the cost would not be the obstacle. Former Manchester City financial adviser Stefan Borson told Football Insider that a severance for Jaissle would most likely fall under a liquidated-damages clause worth about six months of salary in the first year of his contract.
“He’s not going to be on anywhere near £20m. To get rid of him, it’s probably no more than £5m,” Borson said.
That figure sits well below the fee Newcastle paid for Jaissle in the first place, and well below the kind of payout that normally derails a Premier League managerial change.
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For now, Jaissle’s job is safe and the message from the hierarchy is one of patience. O’Rourke added that a prolonged bad run could still force a reassessment, but that scenario is some distance from the current one.
“Jaissle has been a breath of fresh air for a lot of Newcastle fans in that respect, but obviously he needs results and they’ll be hoping they can bounce back,” he said.
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