ON the surface, all appears quiet in the Championship. But below it, clubs are paddling furiously – and Newcastle are being left behind. Stuart Rayner reports on the limbo at St James's.

YOU could be forgiven for thinking that early June is the time when club football goes on holiday, as players and managers scatter across the globe. The reality, though, is rather different. In the 21st Century, football never goes on holiday, it simply relocates for a few weeks.

Thanks to mobile phones, players and managers are never out of reach of the tentacles of agents. Last week was a case in point as Real Madrid went shopping and came back with £136m of footballers. At the time Kaká was preparing for the Confederations Cup in South Africa, Cristiano Ronaldo was spending time in Los Angeles. Neither has appeared in the Spanish capital since agreeing to join.

June is probably a testing period for the marriages of all but the most hardened football widows. Instead of spending quality time with their wives and/or the children, most managers are rarely seen on holiday without a phone almost permanently clamped to one ear. Vacations for them are not a period in which they do not work, just one in which they do a little bit less in a different (warmer) environment.

Very few cheques have yet been written, but deals are busily being lined up. Having discussed budgets and wish-lists with chairmen before heading for the airport, managers will be ringing around rivals, friends and colleagues to find out who is available and at what price, and where they can raise cash by moving on unwanted and expendable players.

Every manager in the Championship will be doing it right now. The trouble is, Newcastle United do not have a manager. In that respect they are not alone in the division, but at least the likes of Reading and Swansea City have the rest of their management structure in place – and a sense of direction sorely missing from St James’s Park.

Even in the hyperbole-overloaded world of football, it is not going too far to say this summer is one of the most important in the history of Newcastle United, and they are muddling through it severely handicapped. There is a gaping power vacuum at St James’s at a time when leadership is essential.

The manager’s office is vacant, the owner is looking to sell. The director of football was ushered out of the exit late last season and the managing director may find his own future inextricably linked with that of Mike Ashley.

The optimists are hoping matters might be resolved by the back end of this week, but buying and selling football clubs is not something which can be rushed. Ashley tried to do it as quickly as possible when buying Newcastle two summers ago, and regretted it even more speedily. Had he taken his time, he might have realised exactly what he was buying before stumping up the cash. Due diligence is supposed to be a meticulous process, and accountants who charge by the hour are hardly likely to want it any other way.

But decisions need to be made. And quickly. The monopoly money thrown out of the Bernabeu will begin to trickle through football and managers will soon be back at their desks hoping to push through a few deals before their holiday tans have faded. Newcastle’s presumed manager-in-waiting, Alan Shearer, is doing his best to lay the groundwork for his beloved club, despite having officially left their employment nearly a month ago. He is not just lining up transfer targets but also putting in place more basic requirements like setting up pre-season friendlies. But there are limits to his powers. Severe limits.

Shearer can ask a player he would like to sign if they are interested in coming to St James’s, but without knowing the budget at his disposal, he will struggle to tell them what wages will be offered. And he can not answer the most important question of all: “Will you be the manager next season?”

It is a brave and trusting footballer who announces to his wife he has turned down a concrete offer from another club in the hope that a series of events slot into place so a proposed move to Newcastle becomes a firm undertaking. When it comes to the transfer market, many managers have the attention spans of small children. If one target starts dragging his feet, they will go hunting for another. Even more important than who Newcastle will buy this summer is who they will sell. Bids are bound to come in soon for some of the players United need to get off their wage bill, but who will decide if they should be accepted or not?

Match of the Day pundit Shearer (because technically that is all he is right now)? Ashley? Derek Llambias? Nobody yet knows who the new owners will be – or if Ashley’s past efforts to sell are anything to go by, whether there will even be any. Until they are in place, no parameters can be set. Will the 2009-10 Newcastle United be run on a Premier League or a Championship budget? The sooner that is resolved, the sooner Newcastle can leave their excruciating state of limbo.