The most positive person in the Newcastle United room…

I very rarely find myself to be the most positive person in the Newcastle United room, and often have to defend my point of view, insisting I’m not a pessimist, but a realist.

But some of the comments I’ve read online had me searching my phone for a “slap in the face” emoji.

Did anyone really expect this ambitious new Newcastle United project to hit the ground, not just running, but running at a pace that would have Mbappé gasping for breath?

Yes it would have been nice if we were still just a win away from third instead of two from 4th, but what did we really expect?

Here are a few statements that are worth contemplating…

Trippier, Tonali, Bruno and Gordon took with them 633 games of Premier League experience.

Our new manager, and eight of the nine summer 2026 signings, before arriving they’d been involved in exactly ZERO Premier League games.

Of the 34 players who have been allocated numbers in our squad, 23 of those players have a combined average age of just 21.

And Newcastle United fans are getting upset because two months in we’re not challenging for Europe?

Give it time boys. Give it time!

Something else to consider.

Many fans considered Rafa Benitez to have been some sort of a demi-god.

In Rafa’s first full season in charge at Newcastle United in the Premier League, seven games in (having managed the team for sixty-odd previous games, he had amassed a grand total of 10 points.

At this stage in Eddie Howe’s last season, we had nine points.

Matthias Jaissle, who has just stepped off the bus and effectively has an under 21 squad with ZERO relevant experience, has eight points.

Howay lads, what did you expect?

If you think our defence has been less than impressive, rather than ripping into them, why not ponder the facts.

Tino Livramento – one of our star defenders – out for 170 days with injury in the last year, hasn’t been able to contribute.

Dan Burn, my player of last season, was out with a fractured foot, is only now coming back from his injury and only got a handful of minutes of playing time on Saturday when Jaissle fielded him in a last gasp effort to try to salvage a point, hoping for a high altitude header.. NOTE:- You know things may not be perfect when you are bringing on BDB as your last chance to score.

Sven Botman, who is taking a hammering at the moment, had 42 days out towards the end of last season with back and hamstring problems. I think he’s being asked to do a job but is nowhere near fit.

Remember what we have seen him do in the past. It can’t be easy playing when you are not fit and you have all those fans on your back!

Fabian Schar was out 143 days in the last year. Not contributing, possibly not fit. One of my favourites.

Amar Dedic turned up and was thrown in at the deep end without a single Premier League game to his name. Had played well but then got injured and is only now on his way back and clearly still not fully fit.

Kieran Trippier may have been amassing quantities of lead in his boots but when it came to reading the game, there was none better.

While he may be impressing, playing Lewis Miley in a pick and mix midfield / defender position isn’t helping his development in either role, and it means we are not getting the best out of him.

So are we really shocked that our defence is not at its best? Players need time to get over their injuries, to get match fit and to build up their confidence.

Something else we need to remember is that these players have not played together. How many times are we seeing incomplete passes because the players don’t know each others runs?

Remember the understanding that Miggy and Tripps had tearing up the right wing?

Those understandings take time to establish.

It will come – give it time.

Players have said that Jaissle’s training is serious stuff. They said the same when Eddie Howe arrived. It’s also possible that players are struggling because of the training.

It may just be possible that Saudi Arabia PIF and Matthias Jaissle are playing a longer game here.

Forgive me if I wobble off on a bit of a tangent here, but this does become relevant.

In 1986 a little know Scottish manager realised the error of his ways and travelled south of the border and got a real job.
He hardly set “Division One” (as the Premier League was called then) alight and it took him a while to settle in.

From 1990 to ‘94 he gathered a few trophies but his managerial career really took off when, in the summer of 1995, Alex Ferguson sold stars Paul Ince, Mark Hughes, and Andrei Kanchelskis, and restocked his squad with youngsters from the academy.

After an opening day 3-1 defeat to Aston Villa it was ex- Liverpool defender and pundit extraordinaire, Alan Hansen, who famously said of Alex Ferguson’s team of youngsters, “you can’t win anything with kids.”

A quote that did not age well and would enter football quote folk lore, up there with “I will love it…..”

Seven players averaging just 20 years old, became the core of one of the most successful teams in Premier League history, dominating the next decade.

Yes, we could look at the early results and run around like headless chickens yelling “we’re all doomed”, or, and I say this even as a self-confessed realist, we could look at the similarities between Ferguson and Jaissle and say “this could be the beginning of something very, very special.”

Maybe Jaissle isn’t Mourinho, but these days even Mourinho isn’t Mourinho!

Man U conquered the Premier League with Neville, Neville, Giggs, Beckham, Scholes and Butt!

Could we do the same with Miley, Miley, Fernadez-Pardo, Bamba, Nico, and Steur.

I’ll be happy as long as it doesn’t turn out to be more of a Pugh, Pugh, Barney Magrew, Cuthbert, Dibble, Grubb situation.

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