Newcastle United fans haven't exactly established the most fruitful of relationships with Fabrizio Romano since his transfer news exploits burst into the media space a few years ago.
That is mainly due to the strangely negative coverage we seemed to get, whether it be about players the Magpies were looking to bring in or those linked away with other clubs - there was always a tone to his updates that felt tied to agenda in some way.
But, with a managerial change this summer and Matthias Jaissle coming in, it now seems as though Romano has shifted his stance on Newcastle United, with the majority of the reporting now reading very differently to how it once did.
The Howe era narrative
When Eddie Howe was manning the touchline at St James' Park there was a very particular choice of language which presented Newcastle United as, in many ways, an inferior football club.
By that I mean there was a lot of reference to the Magpies being used as a 'stepping-stone' when deals were progressing for incomings, Romano was very open when discussing the difficulties in both attracting and retaining players and also just the uncertainty around the general direction of the club.
It also felt as though he took less care when ensuring substance behind stories. A lot of the discourse he pushed was initially based on speculation and often media opinions rather than actual fact and definite information - as if there was some sort of hidden reason behind the way he reported on certain big players and deals.
🚨🔴 Liverpool mantain their focus on Alexander Isak for the final weeks of the summer window.
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) August 7, 2025
New proposal, ready to be submitted if Newcastle open doors to the move.
Isak mantains his position; he doesn’t want to play or stay at Newcastle, he wants to leave and join #LFC. pic.twitter.com/CDnN8Ysl84
But it seems that is no longer the case.
Enter Matthias Jaissle
What is remarkably interesting about the shift is that, not only has almost all of the language with negative connotations disappeared from his tweets, but everything he posts about the club mentions Matthias Jaissle by name.
'Jaissle is pushing for this target', 'player X has been approved by Matthias Jaissle', 'beautiful performance under new coach Matthias Jaissle'.
🚨🔴⚪️ Newcastle have started plans to bring in a new midfielder with new coach Matthias Jaissle involved…
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) August 2, 2026
…as Bruno Guimarães is expected to become Arsenal player shortly. pic.twitter.com/n7dwqFGKt2
It isn't that Romano has suddenly become a Newcastle fan, but instead the story around the club has changed and his coverage has shifted with it.
But why is this the case?
Readily available information flow
Under Eddie Howe, the Newcastle United media circles were much more of a closed book than they appear at present - the likes of Craig Hope and Keith Downie were the tier one sources of information.
But now, with those relationships changing and Jaissle not quite as tight knit with the Geordie journalist contingent as his predecessor, it seems the information distribution has also changed.
There has been some speculation that Romano has some contacts within Jaissle's cohort, circle or whatever you may refer to it as and, as a result, he has soften his stance on the club because of the new information stream he has.
Whether this is officially the case or not, one thing is for certain. Newcastle United are getting a much more favourable ride by the Italian journalist than we have ever been privy to before.
Add us as a preferred source on Google