George Caulkin

England

Senior Writer at The Athletic

Football writer, hapless runner and a Patron of @SBRFoundation. These are my views.

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Articles

Newcastle’s search for their next sporting director: What we’re hearing

1 week ago | nytimes.com | Chris Waugh |George Caulkin

Andy Howe and Steve Nickson have been placed in interim charge of first-team recruitment as Newcastle United look to appoint their third sporting director inside a year. Howe, Newcastle’s assistant head of recruitment, and nephew of Eddie Howe, the head coach, has been tasked with driving the hunt for new signings alongside Nickson, given Paul Mitchell is leaving his role on June 30.
Newcastle United’s Premier League fixtures: Full 2025-26 schedule and key dates

1 week ago | nytimes.com | George Caulkin |Jessica Hopkins

Newcastle United are coming off the back of a successful season after they ended their 70-year trophy drought against Liverpool in the Carabao Cup final. They will kick off the 2025-26 season with a visit to Aston Villa before hosting the champions at St. James’ Park. The new season will also see Eddie Howe’s side meet Sunderland in the top flight once again after their rivals won promotion via the playoffs in May.
Newcastle already have five goalkeepers, so why are they trying to sign a sixth?

2 weeks ago | nytimes.com | George Caulkin

No Premier League club employed more senior goalkeepers than Newcastle United in 2024-25 and, like serial hoarders, they are looking to employ another. It is a peculiar quirk for a position that does not encourage frequent rotation and for a team that has struggled to buy anybody recently. And it is not just anybody they are trying to buy.
Are fans right to worry about the lack of activity?

2 weeks ago | nytimes.com | Chris Waugh |George Caulkin

After three successive transfer windows without strengthening their first XI, Newcastle United will be active in the market this summer, but nothing has happened yet. High-profile targets already appear to be heading elsewhere, prompting the usual array of fury, froth and frustration on social media. When the 2025 close-season's Club World Cup-enforced first mini-window shut on Tuesday, Newcastle had done little more than announce their retained list, with no senior arrivals.
Champions League quality is needed. Who makes way and who stays?

3 weeks ago | nytimes.com | Chris Waugh |George Caulkin
Burn and Tonali led their team to history

4 weeks ago | nytimes.com | Chris Waugh |George Caulkin

A first domestic trophy in 70 years and a spot in the Champions League for 2025-26 are wrapped up but, obviously, the prize truly craved at Newcastle United is The Athletic 's player-of-the-season award. Anthony Gordon ran away with the accolade across 2023-24, but there are many candidates for it a year on. Chris Waugh and George Caulkin debate the merits of five contenders from a historic season (and reach differing verdicts)...
Eddie Howe isn't celebrating Paul Mitchell's exit. Uncertainty is a team-killer

4 weeks ago | nytimes.com | George Caulkin

"My job is to get us in five years' time to our ambition," Paul Mitchell said, not long after his appointment as Newcastle United's sporting director. "We have to be smarter, more intelligent." By the time he leaves his post, at the end of June, Mitchell will have lasted barely one of those years.
Newcastle United review of 2024-25: A PSR scramble, Howe's pneumonia and

1 month ago | nytimes.com | George Caulkin

What a season it has been for Newcastle United. And what an end to the campaign, with qualification for the Champions League secured on the final day, despite a 1-0 home defeat against Liverpool. Remarkably, returning to Europe's premier club competition is not even the best thing that happened to the club in 2024-25. This campaign will forever be remembered as the one when Newcastle ended a 70-year wait for a major domestic trophy.
Joy, misery and gallows humour

1 month ago | nytimes.com | George Caulkin

"Are you taking the p***?"This is David L. And David L is asking an entirely reasonable question. Because David L is a Manchester United fan and, as a Manchester United fan, David L is not entirely happy about a request from The Athletic to offer some feedback on the season just gone.
A summer hangover, a crucial crossroads and Howe's diary

1 month ago | nytimes.com | Chris Waugh |George Caulkin

Eddie Howe is the kind of man who cringes in the face of hyperbole, but even he described the past 10 months as "monumental" for Newcastle United. A first domestic trophy for 70 years brought joyous release, shifting a club's identity from forever yearning into icy winners. Following it with a return to the Champions League establishes the season just gone as one of the best in its history, but they brushed past disaster to get there.