Who is Matthias Jaissle? Newcastle's next manager who was picked out by ex-Man Utd boss

The Eddie Howe era at Newcastle has ended after five years, which involved so much success, but has ended on a low note.

Clearly a departure that has not come as a surprise to the St James' Park hierarchy, who have lined up Matthias Jaissle as his replacement. The 38-year-old is among the current generation of young European coaches, already thriving in their 30s.

Howe was once in that category and moving for Jaissle is thought to be aided by the fact his currently employers, Al Ahli, are owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) like Newcastle.

Already Jaissle's CV includes back to back Austrian Bundesliga titles and the Austrian Cup with Red Bull Salzburg. Those exploits earned him the move to the Middle East, where he's become a two-time Asian Champions League winner.

He is poised to inherit a team that, two years ago, was tracking in an upward trajectory at a fierce rate. Fast forward to 2026 and they've been gutted of some of their best players, more could yet leave, and Howe looks to have had enough with a 4-1 drubbing a Bristol City the final straw.

Jaissle has pretty much known only success during his time as a manager, but could be about to take charge of a team who are not among the most well equipped sides in their respective league for the first time. It will be a test, the like of which he's yet to come up against, but the 38-year-old has overcome more than enough adversity and hardship already.

During his playing days the German was part of a Hoffenheim side who embarked on a journey that took them from the eighth tier of German football to the summit of the Bundesliga. Like Howe though Jaissle was forced into early retirement due to injury, meaning he called time on his career in his mid-20s in 2014.

Ralf Rangnick, a man who doesn't have a sky high reputation in England, but is revered in Germany, immediately saw Jaissle as a future manager. He had been working as the sporting director for the Red Bull project in Salzburg and Leipzig and Jaissle was invited to join a trainee program in the youth department.

"Ralf already saw a coach in me, even when I didn't think about it at all," he previously told Kicker.

At Leipzig he helped coach the the U17 side and followed former Leipzig manager Alexander Zorniger to Danish side Brondby in 2016 after the pair struck up a friendship.

Rangnick kept tabs from a far and in 2019 called on Jaissle to return to the Red Bull stable so that he could take over as a youth team coach at Salzburg.

Jaissle was unconventional in ways. He looked at New Zealand's rugby team for inspiration and, having disliked sitting through video sessions as a player, he didn't want to put his own teams through that. As with all young managers, he plays energetic, fast-paced football, but has shown those ideals actually bring him success, not just pretty football.

Julian Nagelsmann taking the Bayern Munich job in 2021 set about a chain of events that saw Jaissle become the Red Bull Salzburg manager and since then he's never really looked back.

If there's one thing Red Bull's teams in Germany and Austria do well, its spot young talent. Erling Haaland, Dominik Szoboszlai, Josko Gvardiol, Nagelsmann and Marco Rose have all been signed or hired.

Salzburg sporting director, Christoph Freund, was convinced that they'd found another gem in Jaissle: "Matthias's qualities speak for themselves. I have known him for a few years already. He is young, ambitious and suits our club really well.

"The way he works and develops young players is exceptional. He was our ideal candidate as a result. He is not a big name yet, but we are all about giving young players and also young coaches a chance."

Fans were sceptical initially but soon came round to the grand plan. Jaissle is not that much older than a lot of the players he manages, it makes him very relatable. He saw his main job as creating the right team spirit. His players enjoy working as a unit, which makes effective high pressing much easier to implement.

It would be easy to label a young manager with a blossoming reputation who moves to Saudi Arabia as a sell out. Going for the money. But leading Al Ahli has allowed him to manage the likes of Ivan Toney and former Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy. It means a move to Newcastle will not leave him overawed by some of the players in the dressing room.

In April this year Jaissle ensured Al Ahli became the first club in more than two decades to win back-to-back Asian Champions League Elite titles.

If that is the way he bows out, he can have done little more with the resources available to him, but now comes the biggest test of his managerial prowess.