Optimism not expectation is the message with Newcastle United owners change | OneFootball

It is under two weeks now until we get to the first anniversary of the new Newcastle United owners taking over.

No doubt much will be said about the state of the club one year on.

What the new Newcastle United owners have (and haven’t) done, changes made on and off the pitch and so on.

The laughable nature of the media in this country, especially covering football and in particular Newcastle United, means much of the nature / emphasis of the reporting could massively depend on the result of just one match.

Eddie Howe and his players have only one more match before Friday 7 October, a trip to Craven Cottage next Saturday (1 October).

A win for Newcastle would see them move above Fulham and potentially be as high as in the top six by the time we get to that first anniversary for the ‘new’ Newcastle United owners.

However, a defeat would see NUFC in the bottom half of the table and potentially as low as bottom six.

Whilst a draw would simply see Newcastle United confirming their status as the season’s draw specialists (it would be six in first eight PL games), hovering around the middle of the table and not really going anywhere (so far this season).

I can already see it in the headlines, especially if Newcastle lose at Fulham and ended up bottom six in time for that first anniversary. Journalists, pundits and other chancers all questioning whether the club has moved forward at all, purely wanting to base everything on how the Premier League table looks at this point after only eight matches. The fact Newcastle had a tough set of opening fixtures, played generally good to very good, had a lot of injuries to key players, a lot of bad luck and bad officials…none of the chancers will be interested in mentioning any of that.

A win at Craven Cottage and potentially as high as top six going into Friday’s one year anniversary, would undoubtedly offer a more positive spin on the state of Newcastle United compared to a year ago, however, that positive spin will be miniscule compared to the levels of negative spin if Fulham get a win next Saturday.

As for the Newcastle fans (or at least the vast majority of us), something I heard the other day struck a chord with me as I’m sure it will do with you (the vast majority). Talking about the change from Mike Ashley to the new Newcastle United owners, this NUFC fan was saying that the massive thing was optimism. That with Ashley gone it simply meant supporters could now be optimistic about their football club, this fan saying nothing about expectation, just the fact the change of control meant optimism, meant hope.

This is exactly it for me.

Yes, some Newcastle fans out there no doubt saw the change as all being about our club suddenly going from fighting relegation to instantly buying a lot of the best players in the world, to swiftly become one of the dominant clubs in European football, if not THE dominant club.

Yes, I know the Saudi Arabia PIF has a lot of funds at its disposal and for all of us in at least some way, it is exciting to think what could be possible now. However, this minority of NUFC fans expecting an instant superstar team, don’t appear to even comprehend that the Saudi Arabia PIF isn’t now Newcastle’s personal piggybank. The PIF mission statement is about making countless investments worldwide using their current oil based wealth, to diversify into all kinds of areas, so that in the future when the oil-based money stops flowing, or at least significantly reduces, the Saudi position of relative wealth continues. Their involvement at Newcastle United is only one small part of a plan to have money, power, influence, prestige around the globe and in a Premier League full of owners trying to do the same, as Newcastle fans we just hope that the way our club is ran, equals a better football club on and off the pitch.

Those outside Tyneside, including our enemies, would often mock Newcastle United fans for claiming how woeful life was as a football club when Mike Ashley owns your club. They would use the likes of Bury, Sunderland, Leeds and so on to point out those who had it so much worth, then ridicule us if we then asked why comparisons with the likes of Man City, Chelsea, Liverpool, Spurs, Arsenal, Man Utd and others weren’t also made.

Our enemies, especially those in the media, completely dismissing the fact(s) that in the thirteen seasons before Mike Ashley descended on SJP, Newcastle had played some form of European football in 11 of the 13 seasons.

Whilst over the course of the 14 seasons pre-Ashley, there had been five top four PL finishes, seven top six finishes, eight top seven finishes, five semi-finals (domestic and European), two cup finals, Champions League adventures and so on.

Mike Ashley simply had Newcastle United a bit like a dog on a lead.

When the dog lagged behind (got relegated) the owner then dragged it up / forward (allowing money to be spent to get promotion and keeping relatively high wage bill), whilst the very odd time the dog strained at the leash (fifth in 2011/12, flying high the first half of 2013/14) Ashley then hauled it back to heel (allowing zero net spend on the squad in summer 2012, selling Cabaye in January 2014 and not allowing money to be spent, ensuring second half of the season collapse).

Yes, under Mike Ashley, Newcastle fans did get Premier League football BUT whether or not the relegation fight was successful or not, it was all just pointless, Ashley’s only ambition to try and survive in the top tier with as little investment as possible in the squad, to then bring another year of Premier League revenues and by far the most important, free worldwide TV exposure for Sports Direct and his other brands via NUFC.

Whatever the result at Fulham, I will be having a drink on Friday 7 October to toast the anniversary of Mike Ashley leaving and optimism allowed once more.