The patient had flatlined – Now the recovery medication has been paused | OneFootball

Newcastle United were the proverbial patient that had flatlined.

A decade and a half of deliberate self-harm had left the malnourished victim at death’s door.

Mike Ashley, so much to answer for.

Previous neglect had brought the patient to a near-fatal state, only for the intervention of skilled surgeons Hughton and Benitez to breathe new life into Newcastle United, at least enough anyway to keep the heart beating for the time being and bounce back to some kind of stability.

With Mike Ashley remaining in situ, it was though only a matter of time before the inevitable came to pass.

Newcastle United losing all hope and rapidly going downhill, a third descent into a desperate state would surely have been the fatal moment.

In the nick of time, Autumn 2021 saw the emergency medics appear on the scene and whilst that immediately brought an end to the decade and a half of self-harm, the patient was flatlining still.

Eddie Howe and the new owners administered a massive shot of adrenaline to the heart, to try to get it beating again.

A near miracle ensued, thanks to the care and attention delivered to the ailing patient, helped by that January 2022 transfer window serious shot of adrenaline.

However, it was always going to be a lengthy convalescence to be nursed back to a full recovery.

Sometimes the early test results can prove misleading in terms of longer-term, those early test results and health of the patient ending up getting hopes too high too soon for the patient and their loved ones.

The reality becoming apparent only as time goes on, just what an underlying desperate state the patient continues to be in, unless able to take the essential recovery medication.

The medication delivered on a regular basis to this black and white patient, medication that was allowing the patient to build towards a full recovery.

However, after summer 2023, that medication was paused, Newcastle United fans still waiting to see 16 months on, when the course of essential treatment can restart again.

The situation in January 2024 and then summer 2024, with the PSR at the heart of it, was the equivalent of those in power at the Premier League NHS refusing to allow the provision of the medication that was allowing the patient to build towards a full recovery, from what had been a near fatality.

All but inevitable that not only would the patient now not show further improvement, instead, regression in the patient’s condition almost guaranteed.

I have seen other mentions of similar on The Mag, however, this is my take on it all. With these first team signings made since these Newcastle United owners and Eddie Howe arrived, absolutely key to what has/is happening with the patient, just as these past 16 months have impacted.

Trippier, Wood, Targett, Burn, Bruno

Summer 2022

Pope, Botman, Isak

January 2023

Summer 2023

Tonali, Barnes, Livramento, Hall, Minteh

January 2024

No signings

Summer 2024

Kelly, Osula, Vlachodimos

As I said, the underlying condition of the patient was ever improving thanks to the medication BUT these past 16 months have been the equivalent of (PSR) poison having been fed into the veins of Newcastle United, rather than that essential medication.

So what now is the prognosis? The likely outcome or course of the condition, the chance of recovery or… the opposite?

Unless the overall Premier League NHS funding issues are magically resolved, it appears there are two choices, when it comes to trying to get Newcastle United into the kind of rude health that other (Premier League) patients enjoy.

The first option is taking a lower risk course of treatment, hoping that over a course of time, the NUFC patient can be nursed back to optimum health, thanks to the nationally allowed levels of treatment, to be overseen by a skilled practitioner, in the shape of Eddie Howe.

The second and more high risk approach, to try and get a whole other level of improvement showing in the patient, would be the radical option of selling on what could prove to have been one or more vital organs, in order to allow a far more expensive and potentially beneficial course of instant treatment. However, no guarantee if this more radical option will pay dividends and if indeed the transplant(s) go wrong, the patient could well be flatlining again, or at risk of it short to long-term.

In other words.

As some suggest, should say Alexander Isak be sold to the highest bidder and that money/PSR flex be then used to try and replace not only that one vital organ, but also improve so many other aspects of the patient’s health?

Are we really that desperate that Newcastle United fans should favour risking such high stakes, where if it all goes wrong, it could even kill off the patient (the hopes anyway for the foreseeable) altogether?