New Newcastle United owners are ‘on the money’
Everything I’ve seen since the new Newcastle United owners took over at the club fills me with confidence and pride.
The new Newcastle United owners conduct themselves in an impeccable manner.
They communicate with fans and demonstrate passion not seen since the days of Sir John Hall and Freddie Shepherd.
Their approach has been measured, focusing on maintaining our Premier League survival against all the odds and then building foundations with the appointments of Dan Ashworth as Sporting Director and Darren Eales as CEO.
They have embraced the Newcastle United women’s football team, and with the passion in the North East, this can only be a banker for success.
Over 22,000 fans watched Toon Ladies beat Alnwick Town earlier this year at St James’ Park, playing in the fourth tier of women’s football, when the average attendance in in the Women’s Super League is 1.500.
I hear some say our spending in the transfer window has been modest and to some extent it has been. However, our credibility is growing by the day, purely on how we’ve been conducting our business.
Eddie Howe and his team are a class act in every aspect. A young English manager who is also such a quality public figure.
Eddie has galvanised the squad and I can’t remember seeing a group of players looking more United!
We’re not in the Champion League, or Europe at all for that matter, and this is a major hurdle when trying to attract top class talent.
In the transfer market, Eddie doesn’t just want anyone. He wants his first choice and as our stature grows he will get it. For now it’s a challenging process.
For people of a certain age like myself, born in 1957, I was beginning to think I would never enjoy the pleasure of seeing my club up there with the best – but now I’ve been given hope. We are still going to experience some difficult times, look at Man United, but now we will always have hope.
We are seeing minor improvements to the ground, the statue of Alan Shearer back home and his name restored to the club bar. The club is examining all options for extending the ground capacity, because whatever it is, we will fill it.
There is no doubt in the near future, the club’s training facilities will rank as among the best and given time NUFC will become a global player and let’s not forget what benefits that will bring to the North East.
When I took my seat against Notts Forest, the atmosphere was electric. The flags are amazing and with a packed stadium, there can’t be a more passionate venue in English football.
I can’t recall seeing a more dominant performance from the Toon, but as Eddie has identified, we are desperate for another proven goal scorer.
Talking to fans near me, they were all saying the same thing. If you do no further business in the transfer window, pay Leicester what they want for Maddison and bring him to the club. He is a quality act. He’s not a ‘big time Charlie’, he’s a genuine talent and grafter to boot.
From what I witnessed on Saturday, Eddie certainly has a headache at centre back. Botman looks class and whilst Schar was receiving all the plaudits, Dan Burn was faultless, solid as a rock. Good luck with that one Eddie!
Be patient! Everything I have witnesses from our new guardians suggests to me that they’re ‘right on the money’!
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