Newcastle United supporters have got what they have been desperately hoping for in recent years. The Premier League club has returned to the same path of success it last traveled in the mid-2000s and mid-1990s.
Newcastle has risen almost silently to the top three of the Premier League before the turn of the year. They have lost only once and have conceded the fewest goals in the series in the entire autumn season.
The journey there has been tortuous. The endurance of the “magpies” fans has been tested by weak club management, a poor sports equipment millionaire Mike Ashley’s in the ownership period and with bad results on the field.
Happiness was found in the Middle East, in a questionable way, according to many. A group of investors led by the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund (PIF) acquired the club over a year ago, in October 2021.
Among Newcastle’s supporters, the Saudi Arabian state ownership aroused controversy. Some celebrated, some were just relieved by the departure of ex-owner Ashley, and some rose up against human rights violations and state ownership of sports laundry.
To crown the contradiction, the current Series Investment would not be possible without PIF’s financial support. At the same time, ownership and being with Saudi Arabia’s governmental parties will be a constant balancing act for the club.
Howe’s hard screen position
The main reason for the current pace, even the talk of a championship, can be found on and off the field anyway. Manager Eddie Howe and his groups have developed sensationally.
Howe, 45, is in his seventh season coaching in the Premier League. For him, Newcastle is only the second major league club after his “home club” AFC Bournemouth. He has been the pilot of the underdogs in the Premier League, who has had the opportunity to strike against the bigger ones.
Newcastle has been a place for Howe to demonstrate that he is capable of leading a club aiming for the top flight as well. He became Newcastle’s head coach at the beginning of November 2021 and led the black and white striped shirts to 11th place after the fall season.
The considerable change is well encapsulated between Howe’s first and last statement to the press.
– We are in a relegation battle, Howe said succinctly at the presentation press conference of his manager’s contract in November 2021.
– We can achieve anything and I want the supporters to believe in that. The season is still young and all results are possible for us, he commented on Boxing Day 2022 in an interview with the BBC’s Match of the Day program after Leicester fell 3–0.
In the video below you can see how Newcastle beat Leicester on Boxing Day.
Howe has been able to change the way his team plays, in addition to getting out of Newcastle’s struggle for survival last season, must be counted as Howe’s greatest merit.
His predecessor By Steve Bruce led by Newcastle were the most passive teams in the league and very aimless in their play. Prässäys was lazy and poorly organized. In addition to this, the defense year, no matter how Bruce tried to pile on “traditional English fighting football”.
“Play like Almiron”
The change in playing style has become more intense. Newcastle is now aiming for exploits closer to the opponent’s goal, which can be seen as activity without the ball. It has also been successful, as it has scored the most goals of any team in the Premier League after a possession in the opponent’s third.
The players who have blossomed in their new role have been able to influence this.
For example, a real rebirth has been done Joelinton. The 26-year-old Brazilian player joined Newcastle as a striker in the summer of 2019 for a transfer fee of 44 million euros. Expected to be a goalscorer, Joelinton flopped badly, scoring only ten goals in his first two seasons.
Joelinton’s salvation came from a change of venue. After becoming Manager, Howe moved him to the center of midfield, where he has learned to excel in a very different role. Now Joelinton is one of the team’s most active ball handlers, one-on-one winners and hardest-working midfielders.
– He is a turning point player for us, Howe characterize (you switch to another service) in December at the team’s training camp in Saudi Arabia.
Another player who revolutionized his game in Newcastle, a Paraguayan Miguel Almiron like Joelinton, he has experienced scorn for his sloppiness, even from fellow players.
Manchester City Jack Grealish at the end of last season, at the club’s championship parade, uttered one of the most quoted statements of this season.
– Riyadh (City midfielder Mahrez) should have been taken off the field, he played like Almiro, a drunken Grealish said as the cameras filmed.
The quiet Almiron had not shone on the Premier League pitches in his previous three seasons. Known by the nickname “Miggy” among supporters, the winger had scored only nine main league goals in England before the start of the past season.
Now he has the same amount from the past autumn season alone.
Almiron has turned from a workhorse into a star this season. Grealish’s “play like Almiron” motto has changed to mean spitting goals and making vertical runs that cause gray hair for defenders, as well as actively pressurizing opponents with the ball.
Grealish has had to eat his words and sorry (you switch to another service) them.
Newcastle fans can thank Eddie Howe for this change as well. Theses based on forward defense and sharp attacks suit the fast wing perfectly. Howe has given Almiron a clear role, from which the Paraguayan and Newcastle are now reaping the rewards.
Do you get hungry when you eat?
Even though Newcastle became one of the most financially powerful clubs in the world in one fell swoop, high-profile player deals have at least not been rampant yet. Instead of just playing the football manager game of your own life, you have gotten more out of the players who were already in the club.
However, acquisitions have been made and the difference to the past is clear.
Since PIF became the main owner, ten players have joined the club with permanent contracts. Among them, a Swedish striker has been acquired with the largest transfer amount Alexander Isakwho as a 23-year-old star paid the club 70 million euros.
Bruno Guimaraes, Kieran Trippier, Nick Pope, Sven Botman and Dan Burn are regular players in the starting line-up. However, none of the five have superstar status by name.
However, hunger grows when you eat. Newcastle has had a taste of success with its current performances and it needs even more good players in its frame so that it can even chase the championship.
Newcastle editor of The Athletic Chris Waugh evaluate in the one dealing with the January transfer window in its analysis (you switch to another service), that the team would need a midfielder, a winger and a right full-back. This again means opening the purse strings for PIF.
What the Saudi Arabian owners claim and how they operate raises doubts about the club’s operations. Saudi Arabia and the Premier League have on many occasions tried to ensure that the Persian Gulf state would not officially own the club or act in its day-to-day decisions.
However, this is very difficult to guarantee. A Saudi Arabian businessman who is the chairman of the club Yasir Al-Rumayyan works in several Saudi Arabian state-owned companies in management roles. Al-Rumayyan himself has assured that he stays more in the background and “follows the big picture”.
However, he participated in Alexander Isak’s transfer negotiations in person (you switch to another service) and it eventually brought Newcastle more financial support to complete the move.
If an excessive hunger for success strikes, it will be interesting to see how far Newcastle, which still operates moderately, can and dares to go within the financial rules of the Premier League clubs (Financial Fair Play).
The championship shines, at least in some way, in the eyes of the residents of Newcastle upon Tyne. Proof of that came after the Leicester win, when a large number of visiting supporters’ corner broke out into loud chants at the end of the match (you switch to another service):
“We’re Newcastle and we’re gonna win the league!”
“We are Newcastle and we are going to win the Premier League!”