THRU BLACK & WHITE EYES - Ready? Not Ready? - 18/Aug/26

We are now only days away from the new season starting. We face a daunting opening fixture v Liverpool at SJP, late on Sunday afternoon.

The club has lost a whole tranche of players who have been the core of the Newcastle United squad over at least the last four seasons - Lascelles and Krafth perhaps left quietly but the former was a significant part of the club’s story over the last decade. Krafth himself emerged as a useful squad player when called upon. Kieran Trippier has left at the end of his contract and I don’t think anyone would ever underestimate KT’s influence on and off the park.

Although the departure of Lascelles, Krafth and Trippier have generated some headroom on the payroll they have not generated the eye-catching fees brought in for Anthony Gordon, Sandro Tonali and Bruno Guimarães.

Against the backdrop of those departures (not forgetting Alexander Isak’s seismic departure still less than twelve months ago), Eddie Howe has departed too.

By any objective measure those players, combined with Howe and his coaching team, this represents a massive loss of Premier League experience on the park and in the dugout.

The duet at the top of United - Hopkinson - Wilson have completely refashioned the coaching and first team playing squad. A new Head Coach and his staff who have no experience of the Premier League or indeed anything approaching one of Europe’s top domestic leagues, are now combined with a raft of new signings who are new to the Premier League and young in years. They also have the task of getting something from those players signed last summer who have yet to convince supporters they can deliver in Black & White (Elanga, Wissa, Woltemade and Ramsey).

It has been a very difficult window for United. The club has repeatedly claimed Guimarães was not for sale and then sold him. That echoed Isak’s departure twelve months ago and it destroys confidence in what the club says about its players who attract attention from rivals. Lewis Hall is known to have admirers at Old Trafford, the club has let it be known he’s not for sale … but who’s convinced?

The club has been gazumped on two separate occasions at least for players this window as it was on numerous times last summer. Deals had been trailed in the media for weeks on end, the club apparently had no idea it was being used by agents to tease out interest elsewhere and lost out. Played by the Romanos and Ornsteins? They appear to have been naive. It is fair to say Ross Wilson has not signed a single one of his number one targets this summer.

The club also has the question of what it has to do to remain compliant with UEFA following the fine it received this summer too. Supporters, myself amongst them, rail against the iniquities of the PSR/SCR - now widely regarded as a racket to protect a cartel of clubs which built their incomes at a time of minimal regulation. They have their Super League within the Premier League. That is blindingly obvious.

We have settled into an uncomfortable sense of victimhood. The whole club including supporters feels sorry for itself at the hand it has been dealt. We have, all of us, got the lip on - but the most we do about expressing our unhappiness is to cry-arse on social media and write moany-faced crap like I do here. I don’t think that will stop any time soon.

On the flipside, change had to come this summer. So many games demonstrated last season that the first team squad had gone stale. In hindsight we can see so many players … Gordon and Tonali amongst them … acted and played like they didn’t want to be at United. It now seems like Eddie Howe had been exhausted by the task of keeping United on the rails with little support from above. He was presented with a strategic reset led by Hopkinson-Wilson wildly at odds with the project he bought into in late 2021. Alignment? Hmm.

There are some positives I hope.

We have signed two new goalkeepers, who are young and I hope will bring the best out of each other. I pray they are decent because I insist had we had a decent ‘keeper last season, we might have won an extra 10 points which would have changed the landscape of the club since May completely. But we didn’t. An upgrade in this area could be transformative. Though I remain baffled at how James Trafford will be lining up at Elland Road and not St James’ Park.

Wissa and Elanga have substantial Premier League experience. Both resembled footballers at the World Cup just gone which can’t be said of much of last season. They have had twelve months to settle into life at Newcastle United. With a new manager they have an opportunity to wipe the slate clean. It is on them now and it is time to deliver. Much the same can be said of Jacob Ramsey, who I felt was on the wrong side of average last season. However, with the departures of Guimarães and Tonali, he has the opportunity to fulfil the expectations supporters have of him. He can become a big character in that midfield. Again, its on him.

Nick Woltemade? Sighs. He is at risk of becoming the lost boy of Gallowgate. A poor season was followed by an anaemic contribution for Germany at the World Cup. I am no closer to understanding where he will play in a line up with a tactical plan apparently committed to high intensity, vertical (wha?) football. Perhaps having his countryman as Head Coach at United will help him? Again, it’s on him … it could be a pivotal season in his career but he needs to show aggression, appetite and desire in my opinion. Get into the fucking game as I exhorted him many times last season from my perch in the Gallowgate West to no avail.

Hopefully the recruitment of Dedic (at last) as a right-back from Benfica means we won’t see Lewis Miley played in that position (even though he performed admirably) this season. I’d love to see Miley played consistently in midfield where he can fulfil his potential as a fine Premier League midfielder. Like Ramsey, this is his opportunity to demonstrate his quality and become a leader at his club. It is an opportunity for him. It may well be an opportunity for his brother Mason too. We might see Miley the younger on the bench this season too. Or perhaps more? I hope he graduates into the first team as successfully as his brother. That’s got to be the reason he was used in pre-season friendlies isn’t it? Or were we just short on numbers?

What the club should have is a new spirit. Over the last eighteen months it is now obvious key players checked out of their obligations to the club. We can discuss the reasons for that separately but it will centre on money. It’s always about money. Always. We now have a Head Coach and pool of players who want to be here with a desire to prove themselves in the Premier League. This is their opportunity in the toughest domestic league in the world. The vibe (cough) should be different.

The players and the Head Coach with his staff should share a unity of purpose. Newcastle United offers them the opportunity of a lifetime.

But let’s not delude ourselves. Let’s not say and write things for the sole purpose of faux-balance and fake positivity. Let’s be real. There are holes all over this Newcastle United squad - in every area of the pitch - defensively, but particularly in midfield and in attack. We can debate which is the priority but that won’t fill the gaps.

I am writing with the season starting only days away and the summer window on the point of closing. There is a whole load of work yet to be done … Hopkinson has made bold claims about having contingency plans for every position at the club … that boast will be tested to destruction in the next fortnight. He should be aware there is a growing number of supporters who regard him as a bertie bullshitter. That will gather momentum or be paused by the 1/Sep/26.

The credibility of Hopkinson - Wilson is under scrutiny and I don’t think chin rubbing treatises of a season in transition © will be tolerated if 2026/27 starts badly.

The club has ratcheted up ticket prices … never in the history of Newcastle United has it cost so much to get into St James’ Park … we are being treated like consumers and not supporters. This is a different football club to the one PIF/Reubens took from Ashley in 2021. There are lots of promises that have been unfulfilled.

The blind optimism of autumn 2021 has gone. There is a growing cynicism and realisation that this new post-takeover era might have peaked on 16/Mar/25 rather than been the platform for success. It has become underwhelming.

The likes of me can be proven wrong and I hope I am - but I’m looking at the coming season with a sense of foreboding and not much expectation.

Keep On, Keepin’ On …

Michael Martin @TFMick1892.bsky.social