Newcastle latest news: Next manager could face "absolutely horrendous" Magpies problem | OneFootball

The Athletic's Chris Waugh is concerned by Newcastle's "absolutely horrendous" fixture list in December, as the club look to stave off the threat of relegation.

Despite the recent takeover at St James' Park, things have not been going well on the pitch, with the team having picked up just three points from their opening eight league matches.

Who will Newcastle play in December?

The final month of 2021 does not start off too badly for Newcastle, as they will take on Norwich and Burnley, two teams who currently occupy relegation spots.

It quickly take a turn for the worse after that, though. Their final five games of December will see them come up against Leicester, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Everton.

Four of those sides finished inside the top five last term, so it looks to be a daunting end to the year for the Magpies.

What has Waugh said about Newcastle's run of fixtures?

Waugh has claimed that Newcastle's fans are especially disheartened by the team's start to the season as they have had some winnable games in recent weeks. Steve Bruce's men have already played Southampton, Leeds and Watford, sides who could be dragged into a relegation scrap, but they have failed to beat any of them.

The Toon Army now have some trickier games on paper coming up, and this worries Waugh.

Looking ahead to the future, he told GIVEMESPORT: “They need players who are going to improve the team, because they have a very, very difficult few months coming up in terms of fixtures. That December fixture list is absolutely horrendous.

“And that’s part of the reason why there’s so much frustration with Steve Bruce, is that they had what seemed like a relatively kind start to the season, and they failed to win a game yet. So, they need players who are going to come in, make that immediate impact, rather than sort of acclimatise to the league.”

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Could Newcastle be cut adrift before the January transfer window?

Newcastle now have the wealthiest owners in the world, and it seems likely that they are going to bring in a new manager in the near future to replace Bruce following the side's dismal start to the season.

The next manager will probably be given plenty of money to improve the playing squad in January, but they first need to start picking up some points between now and the end of the year.

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The North-East club are three points adrift of safety at the moment, and they can't afford for that gap to widen by too much more in the coming months.

Newcastle's future looks bright now that they have owners who are willing to provide considerable financial backing, but the priority this season has to be making sure that they stay in England's top division.

Whether they are able to achieve this could depend on the number of points that they collect ahead of the January transfer window.