After the disastrous conclusion to the 2008-09 season saw Newcastle fall in to the Championship, the only conclusion they wanted to last season was promotion. No other result was acceptable and the club cantered over the finish line as April began. A complete reversal of fortune from the doldrums the club went through prior to its relegation, The Magpies breezed to the title in imperious form.
With a squad with the quality of players such as Kevin Nolan, Steve Harper and Jose Enrique, they were always going to be favourites to return. Avoiding the perils of stagnation or losing large chunks of their squad to Premiership clubs, Newcastle were able to use the pain of relegation as a driving force for redemption.
Placing the quiet and softly spoken Chris Hughton as manager paid dividends for the club. As a player he’d played in some major matches for both club and country but last season was surely the pinnacle of his professional career so far. 102 points amassed, a goal difference of +55, unbeaten at home and only 4 defeats in the league. It was an impressive campaign from start to finish and 4 players, Nolan, Enrique, Carroll and Coloccini were all chosen in the Championship Team of the season. To top it off, Hughton was voted the Championship manager of the season too.
A more reflective sense of perspective seems to have descended on St. James Park this summer, as the club reflect on the forthcoming Premiership season. Transfer wise only two fairly low key signings have arrived, James Perch, the utility player from Nottingham Forest and Dan Gosling who has walked on Everton through a transfer loophole. Gosling is likely to be unavailable until at least Christmas as he recovers from a cruciate ligament injury.
It’s certainly not the usual hubbub of transfer action that we expect from the North East, but it seems lessons have been learnt from previous recruitment drives. My only concern is the lack of strength up front, though Andy Carroll certainly cemented a consistency that added to the expectations that had been laid upon him. The Newcastle fans love nothing more than one of their own leading the line and Carroll continues a tradition that goes back all the way to Jackie Milburn and beyond. Niall Ranger could also be another rough diamond that needs a polish up.
The majority of the squad know all about the Premiership, so for a promoted side it is unusual for them to not look towards major surgery. Getting Joey Barton fully fit and concentrating solely on football would be like signing a new player, such were the issues that over took his career in the last couple of years. There is top level experience running throughout the squad and Hughton knows that will be vital to keeping Newcastle up. Adding a few more bargains to strengthen the squad should be the main transfer aim before the deadline comes down.
Forget crazy ideas of finishing in the top ten, this club needs to concentrate on re-establishing itself in the Premiership before anything else comes to mind. No doubt Sky Sports will be scouring the town to look for the over optimistic nutters they only ever use when discussing Newcastle United who will be banging on about European qualification, but most Geordies know that stability and consolidation are the key words to any success, anything above 18th is all they need to worry about.
Please leave me your comments and you can follow me on www.twitter.com/paulbestall
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Jeff
July 26, 2010 at 11:58 am
The one thing that Newcastle fans must not bring up is the “messiah” rubbish, considering it was that rubbish that got the club into a dire situation by firing managers left & right (whether it was rightfully or otherwise). Consistency and stability must be the top priority for this club, and not bring up that nonsense with greatly help their cause to survive the upcoming Premier League season.
Brad
July 25, 2010 at 11:49 am
Wow, not often to non-Newcastle fans understand what SSN does with their street interviews. Well said, and I can say most Newcastle fans would agree with you.
Dan
July 24, 2010 at 2:13 pm
A balanced, fair and rational analysis of Newcastle, a sentence that I would never usually write without sarcasm. Hopefully every other sneering club and Murdoch sports will finally get off our backs. We want to ply our trade in the top division and work our way up, and see some pride in our play, rather than the meek surrender of 08-09. Chris Hughton has proven himself more than capable of finding the right players, and for every Leon Best there’s been a Wayne Routledge or Patrick Van Aanholt and I have every confidence that we will bring in the right players to make a good job of staying in the Premier League. A lot of last years performances, particularly at the back have me worrying about facing Prem quality attack, and I am bracing myself for some top four thrasings, but being unbeaten at home and winning a difficult league whilst most importantly seeing off Forest and Brom without hassle gives me confidence in our chances for Survival, and most importantly, trashing the Unwashed at the Stadium of S***e.
Rob McCluskey
July 24, 2010 at 1:34 pm
Agree, sky sports are very selective in who they speak to on the streets, I think we have a lot of good players to stay up with though, I don’t think we will sign another striker though, it appears Xisco might be given another chance, and with him in the frame that means we have 5 already as Hughton is still a fan of Leon Best. I would like to see another pacey striker like Lovenkrands as the rest are all just big men really, although we did quite well in the Championship when we played Ameobi and Carroll up front, but I think he will keep faith with a Carroll and Lovenkrands start, it appears as if the weight falls on Carroll to get the goals though
I’m happy we managed to get Gosling, Perch doesn’t seem too high key but it’s important that we get more depth in the squad and Perch plays a lot of positions so I suppose he’ll just fill in the gaps if we need it. We definetley need another left back, Enrique was amazing last season and if we lose him it’s a major blow, it would be good to have someone competent in his place, we loaned Van Aanholt from Chelsea last season and he was great, wouldn’t mind getting him back again!
I think the likes of Enrique and Coloccini showed they were too good for the Championship last year, and that stint really helped Coloccini put a bit of “no nonsense” into his game. Also not many people mention how amazing Danny Guthrie was last season, he got loads of assists and I hope he can continue that progression into the Premier League.
Also (no offence meant!) but we were not tipped as heavy favourites to be promoted last season, at the start of the year most of pundits thought we would struggle and be destined for a long stay in the Championship.