Matt Ritchie revealed he was disappointed to learn that Rafa Benitez did not agree a new Newcastle United contract as the club prepare for the arrival of Steve Bruce.
Bentiez revealed he wanted to stay at the club, but the hierarchy did not share his vision for the future.
Newcastle are in China on their pre-season tour and are on the verge of appointing Steve Bruce as Benitez’s replacement. Bruce tendered his resignation as Sheffield Wednesday manager on Monday in a bid to speed up the process as the two clubs became stuck on a fee for the Newcastle-born boss.
Ben Dawson, the head of the club's academy, and under-23s coach Neil Redfearn are running pre-season training and they insist that their only focus is getting the players fit.
"The main aim is to prepare the players for the new manager coming in," said Dawson at a press conference in China, where the club are playing in the Premier League Asia Trophy.
"(There is) no news at this moment in time. We are waiting to hear along with everybody else.
"All we can do is focus on the job out here. We have good staff and good players. We have worked hard training twice a day. We are preparing the players as we would for any fixture."
There is no shying away from the fact the club is in a state of turmoil. Takeover rumours continue to circle, there is no manger and several players have left.
Winger Matt Ritchie, however, remains positive.
He said: "To see the manager (go) was disappointing. He had a good reign at the club.
"But we now look forward to a new manager and a new season. Ben and Neil's sessions have been of high quality and good intensity, so we're not missing anything in that respect.
"The new manager will want to add players but we're preparing so that when the new manager does come in, we can hit the ground running."
