By Martyn Herman
LONDON (Reuters) – Newcastle United will start the season truly back amongst the big boys for the first time in a couple of decades with expectation levels sky high on Tyneside.
After year’s of discontent and gloom, the fog that engulfed the serial under-achievers has lifted and a bright new dawn arrived last season when Eddie Howe’s side finished fourth.
Fans of the club, majority owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) since 2021, used to begin campaigns fretting about the possibility of relegation.
Now, after a stunning resurgence they have gate-crashed the top table of English football and will return to the Champions League group stage for the first time since 2003.
Impressively, Newcastle’s rise is not all about spending the money that is clearly now at their disposal.
Astute signings, rather than Hollywood buys, have been the order of the day with Howe constructing a team imbued with a high work ethic and well-defined method.
Fans will lament the sale of winger Allan Saint-Maximin to Saudi club Al-Ahli, the Frenchman joining the growing exodus to the Middle East, and his mercurial magic will be missed.
But it is a case of “in Howe we trust” and the recruitment of English winger Harvey Barnes and Italian midfielder Sandro Tonali have added depth to the squad.
Newcastle also signed teenaged winger Yankuba Minteh from Odense as they look to build a team that can cement their place amongst the elite, rather than be a flash in the pan.
There will be challenges this season. The Champions League will stretch the squad and the likes of Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur will be eager to re-assert themselves after being replaced by Newcastle in the top four.
And for all the good vibes sweeping the Magpies, the club’s trophy cabinet is still gathering dust.
They got close to ending the 55-year wait for a top-level trophy last season, only to lose the League Cup final to Manchester United.
So while competing towards the top of the Premier League and enjoying the Champions League nights will rekindle the heady days of Bobby Robson and Kevin Keegan, Newcastle can be expected to take the domestic cups seriously too.
The core of Howe’s team proved ultra-reliable last season with keeper Nick Pope, central defender Sven Botman, right back Kieran Trippier and midfielder Bruno Guimaraes enjoying levels of consistency that are a manager’s dream.
They will have to reach the same standards this season for Newcastle to continue to thrive.
Newcastle finished with 71 points but even as that campaign finished, Howe was focused on the challenges ahead — knowing they must not stand still.
“There are no guarantees, we have to earn the right to be the team that people want us to be,” Howe said.
(Reporting by Martyn Herman, editing by Ed Osmond)
