My grandfather came to visit his second cousin in Morpeth and came back talking about Newcastle… | OneFootball

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

Only four 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 Matthew Chase Whittemore:

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

Uncertain but optimistic.

The summer FFP crunch, the board level and executive level changes, all leave me wondering what shoe still needs to drop and questioning if we’ve had too much of a good thing. The Ashley days still haunt.

At the same time, it seems like we are coming through it. The team is openly talking about having Champions League ambitions this year compared to the “not talking about it” thing of last year. Maybe this new normal really stays.

Three words to describe Eddie Howe?

Just the man.

Honestly, is there more to say?

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

We need to make more money.

Part of this is getting to the Champions league, part of this is deals like the Adidas one, but the place we seem weakest is in our outgoing transfer values.

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There are other ways to make money, but if our outgoing transfers aren’t making us more money this year, I fear we will be on the brink of PSR again by the end of the season.

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

I always suck at this but here it goes.

1. Arsenal – I know the readers here might not like to see that, but I think they are focused on taking the league and will do it soon. 2. Man City – Because they aren’t going away anytime soon, no matter what I think should happen with their PSR violations. 3. Newcastle – We want Champions League and the way to it is top four, I think we’ll push and push and end up third, out of fear that fourth becomes an unlucky fifth. 4. Liverpool – New manager, new struggles. I could see them dropping lower but I’ll keep them here.

Relegation:

I’m going to be wrong here, but I’m hoping the FFP rules deduct a bunch of points from Man City and we see a crazy upset with them going down, never going to happen. If it did, no one would even talk about the other two, so I won’t either.

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?

We have to build an 80k stadium, and it needs to be able to adapt as the team grows, and it needs to somehow feel authentic to keep our home edge. This is going to be hard but it’s crazy to hear about local fans who can’t make games. That’s just a shame. As a fan from afar, I really want to get to one game at St James’ Park before we leave. I’m personally tracking as in the next four years.

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

I think losing any of Isak, Bruno, Gordon would have been a fatal wound for the season.

I see Howe deeply questioning his role with any of these leaving. I see the team struggling to make the Champions League and then finding themselves in a spot where they have to sell again. And then maybe again.

We had to hold on here (have to keep holding on here) if we are going to break through and be a stable Champions League team.

Aside: remember how being top half felt like a victory just a few years ago… Wow, things have changed.

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

Top four. The League Cup is still a really remote idea for me. The League makes sense, it gets you somewhere. The League Cup is less clearly valuable. I’m sure that is too American of a thing to say. Tradition gives it value. It’s just not in my tradition really so it’s not there for me. And, my major concern is that cash doesn’t keep up with ambition and we find our owners needing for fire sale again.

How worried are you about PSR/FFP affecting Newcastle United in the 2024/25 season?

All the fears. This rule set is dumb and needs to be binned. It’s a nasty version of the old adage, you have to have money to make money. An idea, coming from a good place I think, abused to keep those on top, on top.

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?

I was ridiculous in suggesting they get relegated above so I’ll be cynical here and say they don’t even get a slap on the wrist.

The fact that it has gotten this far is impressive honestly. Now the power plays start to really happen and they end up talking their way out of everything.

When did you begin actively supporting Newcastle United/realise you were an NUFC fan? How would you describe the differences between now and then? Do you think it is better supporting Newcastle United now (and being a football fan in general), or was it better back when it all started for you?

Twenty one years ago, my grandfather travelled to see his second cousin in Morpeth and came home talking about England, the beauty of Northumbria and the city of Newcastle.

This was back when blogs were just starting to be normalised and I found a Newcastle United fan blog (black & white & read all over it, if anyone else here read it) and started following along.

A few years later, in university, I met a few other EPL fans and started to watch some games as the EPL came to US television. As one who had played soccer growing up and used it to get ready for hockey season, I hadn’t actually seen a game before (even the world cup…). Lets just say, watching was a blast.

Though I was called a Newcastle fan, I felt more like a fan of reading about Newcastle. My great grandmother is from near Manchester and I did a semester of university in London, staying in Highbury. While it was hard to watch Newcastle in the states it wasn’t hard to watch any team from Manchester or Highbury.

Every EPL fan I know spent the Ashley years asking why I rooted for Newcastle. All they knew was we were bottom of the table and the name Shearer. It would have been easy to stop talking about Newcastle and lean into other teams. However, as TV access grew I found myself watching games more and more and started going to a local pub to watch the lads a few times a year (8am at the pub is weird though) and every once in a while I wouldn’t be the only one in black and white.

About eight years ago my fandom stepped up another level as I had my first kid and thus had someone to share the game with. My three kids all know the phrase “Howay the Lads” and can sing parts of Blaydon Races. Though, to be honest, they think “howay” means “put your hands in the air” as I taught them to do that to celebrate with me when we score. Sorry about that. Someday they’ll understand.

Anyway, the end of the Ashley era couldn’t have come at a better time. My kids are starting to care about how we do and are so much more excited about hanging out with Dad and watching a game when it’s exciting (aka, we are scoring and winning).

They are all huge fans of Anthony Gordon and spend much of the matches trying to find him on the field. I’m not sure their fandom would survive him being transferred out right now, it would at least set me back a few years with them.