European qualification essential for Newcastle United to keep Alexander Isak and Bruno Guimaraes | OneFootball

The 2024/25 Premier League season is fast approaching for every Newcastle United fan.

Only three days now until United host Southampton and it all kicks off again.

An ideal time to get a snapshot of views from Newcastle United fans on how they think things are going.

So we sent out various sets of questions to a number of regular/irregular contributors to The Mag.

Next up we have Wor Lass:

What do you see as the minimum to achieve this coming season?

The minimum must be a place in Europe. No matter how much the likes of Bruno, Joey and Isak love the toon, I can’t see them hanging around for a second season if we don’t make that – and preferably Champions League.

Predict the top five in the Premier League (in order) and which three clubs will be relegated.

Top five: Arsenal, Liverpool, Newcastle, Villa, Chelsea

Relegated: Man City, Southampton, Leicester

If there’s any justice in the world, Man City will pay for their continuous financial transgressions but I have my doubts, so everyone could be shunted down a place.

Three words to describe how you currently feel as a Newcastle fan?

Excited but frustrated.

Excited by the prospect of a new season with a mainly fit squad but frustrated by the way the transfer window is stretching out with little or no news.

Three words to describe Eddie Howe?

Committed to us.

I have had absolutely no fear that he would leave us for the England job. He has a legacy to build and bestow upon us and he’s going nowhere of his own accord until he’s done it. Get the statue ordered (but he still has to be open to fair criticism).

What do you think Eddie Howe’s first choice eleven will be this coming season, when all current squad are fit?

Pope, Trippier (morphing into Tino later), Schar, Botman, Hall, Tonali, Bruno, Joey, Murphy (or new buy), Isak, Flash.

I do think, though, that he will be more open to rotation this season with, hopefully, a fitter and better quality squad containing a fair few players who can play well in multiple positions.

Eddie has some tough but – from his perspective – welcome dilemmas to sort out. Tino or Tripps?

Kelly at CB or LB? He looks good – big, quick and a great passer of the ball, but what about BDB?

Where does Little Joe fit in, he plays so well with the Big ‘un?

What about Callum when he’s fit (not sure what week that’s going to be!) and Lewis Miley? Does Sean have a future as a starter?

What about the youngsters like Sanusi, Harrison, Hernes, Miley etc? We’re starting to build up a squad with real competition and quality.

Your thoughts on the signings made this summer?

Fine so far but I think we need cover for Schar – Friday’s game underlined that.

A right winger would be good but not essential. Osula showed the potential that Eddie sees in him with the way he broke, controlled the ball and finished against Brest. As I said on a thread recently, such Brest-like finishing could help to lift us up the league and separate us from the also-rans.

The new signing that has got me the most excited is Lloyd Kelly. He’s had his injury problems but I think they’ve been specific issues that may now be resolved. In all of his pre-season appearances he’s impressed me with his power and pace but even more so with his left foot. It’s like a magic wand.

The other one, of course, is Lewis Hall but I nearly forgot about him as he’s been with us a lot longer. He’s got vast potential and could eventually outshine Tino on the other flank – at full back or even in midfield. It’s great to have versatile players like Hall, Kelly, Tino, Tripps, Flash and BDB – and, hopefully, Marc Guehi – when injuries inevitably kick in.

Name a Newcastle player who you think could be a massive surprise success this season, doing far better than most fans expect.

I’ve already highlighted Lloyd Kelly. I’ve just been so impressed by the way he’s slotted in and given us a new dimension on the left hand side. He’s quick and strong, makes good decisions and pings fantastic long balls right to players’ feet. Where his injury record is concerned, I’m hoping “Has Anyone Here Seen Kelly” will drop out of the charts this season.

Hand on heart, where do you think Newcastle will finish in the 2024/25 Premier League?

If Man City are relegated, 3rd – otherwise 4th. Champions League beckons! Though I do think this season could be the most competitive ever.

What would be your ideal future stadium if these two were the options – St James’ Park increased to 60,000, or brand new 80,000 stadium just a few hundred yards up the road where Leazes Park and/or Castle Leazes is?

Everyone seems to be of the opinion that SJP can only be converted to a 60,000 seater stadium. That may be right but brighter architectural minds than the average fan’s will be working on this and that might not be the bottom line. Spurs’ new stadium is only 62,500 and seems to have been a game changer for them and Everton’s brand new one is smaller by 10,000.

My preference would be to stay at SJP because it’s such a fantastically convenient and iconic location but I need to bear in mind that I very rarely get a chance to go to games myself so it’s all a bit theoretical. The other factor to weigh up is where exactly a new stadium would be built. If it was within easy walking distance of the City centre that would be fine but if it was out of town in some sort of derelict industrial wasteland I wouldn’t be keen (again, in theory!).

Were you ever seriously worried that Newcastle might lose one of their key players (Isak, Bruno, Gordon etc) this summer?

Isak and Bruno have consistently said how happy they are in Newcastle (the club and the city) so the only way I could see them moving would have been if the club wanted them to. I couldn’t see that happening.

Flash, though, is a different matter. I really enjoyed listening to his interview with Gary Neville and it changed my perception of him a lot but one thing that came across strongly is how ambitious for success he is. I got a strong feeling that if the right offer came for him from a top (in terms of trophy success) PL or European club he’d be up for it. I’m not saying he’d be disloyal or ungrateful, just that he’s driven by a need to succeed and not by sentiment.

Which player from your early days supporting Newcastle United would you most like to see in the NUFC 2024/25 team?

Got to be Beardo. My all time favourite player for both England and NUFC. Imagine him and Isak running riot in opposition penalty areas?

If it wasn’t him it would have to be Supermac, even if it was just to hear that chant booming out and rolling around the stadium again. Sideboards could become a thing again!

Which Newcastle United player sale would have hurt the most if they’d gone this summer?

Bruno. Not that he’d be irreplaceable on the pitch, but just that he’s become such an icon in the short time he’s been at the club, I just love the man!

Upcoming 2024/25 season, would you rather win League Cup or finish Premier League top four?

We need the income from the CL and we need to play games there to improve our coefficient so we don’t constantly end up in a group of death. I’d also like us to be threatening the top of the table.

Anyway, we got to a cup final AND qualified for the Champions’ League the season before last so why not do that again but this time win the pigging thing?

Manchester City are set to have the case heard on their longstanding 115 alleged breaches, what punishment do you predict they will get, if any?

Depends if they’re guilty and what level of breaches they are, 115 makes it sound immense and wanton but it just depends what they were, whether they knowingly continued to do it, if they tried to cover it up etc.

I remember a German van driver getting fined thousands of Euros because he’d been speeding every night and early morning at one particular spot on his night time run. Turned out it was a school with a speed restriction but it wasn’t open at the times that he passed and he thought the restriction didn’t apply at those times. I think eventually he paid a token fine and the rest was cancelled.

I suspect that’s what might happen to Man City UNLESS they’ve been caught out knowingly fiddling and haven’t cooperated. In which case they should be fined and relegated. Have the PL got a) the cojones and b) the money?