Imagine a scenario where Newcastle United had been relegated in 2022… | OneFootball

As a Newcastle United fan, I’m heartily sick of all this Alexander Isak nonsense.

A professional footballer’s career is a short one, it tends to be a transient one. Players come and go. It therefore surprises me why some of our fanbase are so full of angst.

Alexander Isak scored the single most important goal in Newcastle United’s recent history. That is a fact and for that very reason, together with what I’ve just outlined in terms of his choice of career lacking longevity, if he moves on I will wish him well. He will forever be a hero in my eyes.

Okay, we haven’t had a great window and, in that respect, we really need an injection of new blood, irrespective of whether Isak stays or goes.

And, in an ideal world, we really don’t want to be selling Alexander Isak to Liverpool. Goodness knows, they’ve taken some talent from us over the years.

PSR is also unfair, although maybe not to the point where some would argue we should be left to spend unfettered in the same way as Man City have done, or Chelsea before them did, or if you want to go further back, the way in which Man Utd and Liverpool did; anyone remember Louis Edwards at Man U and how he manipulated the rules? How about John Goulding at the turn of the twentieth century when he bought the title by employing a bunch of Scottish mercenaries to ply their trade at Anfield?

I’m afraid these are the cards we’ve been dealt, so we need to accept it and make the most of it.

I have a couple of theories as to why our fanbase are like they are and why we’re in this mess.

First up, I think we get far too emotional and far too attached to those who don the black and white jersey. Just this morning, someone I work with said he still hadn’t got over losing Malcolm Macdonald. I remember how upset I was when Beardsley, Waddle and Gascoigne left. Let’s face it, that solitary League Cup win in March of this year aside, we’ve not had much to shout about.

How about if those near misses in my lifetime had been converted, such that (say) since 1974 we’d won the league twice, the FA Cup four times, the League Cup three times and the UEFA cup a couple of times? Would that have dulled the pain as far as losing key players is concerned? I’m willing to wager it would have.

Elsewhere, Eddie Howe (who walks on water by the way) has been far too successful.

Imagine a scenario where Newcastle United had been relegated in 2022 and then bounced back at the first attempt but hadn’t qualified for Europe (never mind the Champions League) and hadn’t got to two (yes two) Wembley finals in his short tenure? A slow burn in other words, building gradually, steadily and not raising expectations in the way he has. It has been claimed that the PSR plan was to sell Bruno Guimaraes (that’s why he had that £100m activation clause in his contract), but when we qualified for the Champions League, there was no way he was going anywhere.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s been an absolute blast, but there is something about the ‘I’ve got to have it now’ culture that pervades all this talk surrounding Alexander Isak.

Not that I’m a fan of them whatsoever, and I know I’ll be slated for daring to mention it, but even Liverpool have taken a decade to make their assault on the summit of English football since their new owners came on the scene.

Okay, their base position was infinitely better than the Newcastle United owners inherited after 14 years of Mike Ashley, but during the time FSG have been at the helm, Liverpool have sold the likes of Torres, Suarez, Sterling and Coutinho. They’ve also increased commercial revenues significantly, constructed a new training ground (with lucrative sponsor) and rebuilt Anfield. My point, much as I do genuinely dislike them, is that they have taken a long-term approach and are now reaping the benefits.

By contrast, the new NUFC owners are only four years in, although there’s still no new training facilities and we’ve been awaiting an announcement on the ground with bated breath for a while now.

It looks like Yasir Al-Rumayyan is in town now, trying to make amends and fix the mess. He could start by issuing some much-needed communication to the fans.