From sleeping giant to Big Six living nightmare
NEWCASTLE UNITED are turning into the Big Six’s worst nightmare.
Armed, dangerous and with all the pent-up energy that a decade in the wilderness has fostered, the Geordie nation is dreaming again.
Yes, watch out. You have been warned.
Last week it was 12 months since the Saudi-led takeover of the Tynesiders was passed – and the question of why the cosy cabal of clubs at the top of English football protested back then has had its answer this season.
The Toon present a clear and present danger to those who want to sit at English football’s top table and ring-fence all the goodies for themselves.
Newcastle – unsurprisingly – want a piece of that.
It’s taken over £200million of investment during this past year though several other clubs have spent as much in this obscene, naked glory-hunt – and are yet to realise any return.
But sensible decisions taken last year by the club are now bearing fruit, the handbrake has been applied to the juggernaut and it’s now being put into gear and heading in the right direction.
This isn’t just referring to the umpteen signings boss Eddie Howe has added to the ranks, by the way.
This isn’t restricted to on-field matters.
No, the powers-that-be have taken their time and attempted to shore up foundations that were only ever built on sand while Mike Ashley was in charge.
The Saudis took the measured approach, did their homework and head-hunted Dan Ashworth to be the club’s new football director and the widely respected Darren Eales to take the chief executive’s role.
It doesn’t smack of anything knee-jerk. Two sensible decisions, built off the back of their best one of all, which was appointing
Howe as the manager. You could say that the boss with the most cherubic face in the Premier League was blessed to be in the right place at the right time, but football is all about taking your chances.
And Howe has certainly taken his. Marshalling a group through transition – even though it is a happy one with quality signings arriving every few days during last January’s transfer window – still takes some doing.
If it didn’t, bigspending Nottingham Forest would by now be walking away with the Premier League.
As it is, bringing people together to fight for a common cause needs buy-in. It needs someone to foster that spirit, organise and cajole a rapidly-changing dressing-room. Howe’s been the right man in the right place at the right time.
The Magpies head to Old Trafford with a spring in their step – and they have every reason to view today’s game as a benchmark for ambitions to crash the elite’s party.
An exciting draw with Manchester City and an injury-time defeat at Anfield shows Howe’s side has become increasingly competitive in that company. Emphatic victories over Brentford and Fulham in the past two weeks show that confidence within the ranks is sky-high.
It’s changed the narrative.
The talk isn’t centred on relegation any longer. It’s about disrupting the cartel at the top. It’s taken years, but Newcastle is stirring from hibernation.
And those who currently dominate English football had better wake up to the new reality – it doesn’t look like this latest incarnation of the giant Tyneside club is going away.