Where did it all go wrong for Newcastle United?
I have identified the moment where I believe we can trace the decline from.
Exactly 17 months ago today.
Before we get to that though, I want to talk about the red herring that preceded this.
They say a lie becomes the truth if it gets repeated a thousand times.
Well, for a fair few thousand Newcastle United fans the huge lie that became the truth, was the idea that after winning the Carabao Cup final on Sunday 16 March 2025 the NUFC team put their feet up. That results instantly went downhill after the trophy was won.
I have always been bemused by this, as it only takes a second to look at the results and see how false this notion is.
The reality is that the Monday before the 2025 Wembley final, Newcastle had a hard fought 1-0 win at West Ham.
On the Sunday it was 2-1 against Liverpool at Wembley, before a couple of weeks international break where we basked in the glow of silverware that culminated in the amazing scenes in Newcastle city centre as the delayed open top bus trophy parade took place.
When the Premier League kicked off again on 2 April 2025, Newcastle had a hard fought 2-1 home win over Brentford (Tonali scoring from what looked an impossible angle), 3-0 victory at Leicester, 4-1 and 5-0 home wins over Man U and Palace respectively. A defeat at Aston Villa broke a six match winning run but then the next three matches back on form with 3-0 and 2-0 home wins over Ipswich and Chelsea, which sandwiched a credible 1-1 draw at Brighton.
A run of ten matches in all competitions which had started with the victory over the Hammers, which produced eight wins, one draw and a single defeat. In the eight Premier League matches that followed the trophy win, Newcastle scored 21 goals.
Arsenal
Then exactly 17 months ago today, Newcastle United played at Arsenal.
In contrast to Newcastle’s superb form, Arsenal had won only one of their last six Premier League matches, only three of their last 11 league games. The Gunners had also lost home and away in the Champions League against PSG, whilst in the Carabao Cup semi-final Newcastle had comprehensively defeated them home and away, a thumping 4-0 aggregate victory for United that took us to that Liverpool final.
With the very different form of the two teams ahead of 18 May 2025 at the Emirates, the pundits pretty much all had Newcastle United nailed on to win at Arsenal, the bookies even made NUFC favourites to win this away game. If Newcastle defeated Arsenal in this final away game and then defeated Everton at home, Eddie Howe’s side were guaranteed to follow up the cup final victory with a Premier League runners up spot behind Liverpool.
How different things might have been…
The 18 May 2025 match was one of those games where suddenly Alexander Isak felt unable to play. Newcastle dominated the first half and created numerous chances but just couldn’t finish, if only they’d had a £125m striker available. United the better team in the second half as well but Declan Rice pulled out a superb long range effort and smashed and grabbed the three points.
The following Sunday we saw Alexander Isak return to the team but he might as well have still been sitting it out, walking football wouldn’t have done him justice. Newcastle lost 1-0 at home to Everton and instead of finishing runners up behind Liverpool, United were saved from missing out on Champions League football by a shock Man U home win over Aston Villa. Man U were fighting it out with Spurs at the time for the honour of finishing fourth bottom.
It is startling and gutting to consider the very different journeys Arsenal and Newcastle United have been on since that fortunate win for the Gunners on Sunday 18 May 2025.
Arsenal winning the Premier League and finalists in the Champions League, whilst Newcastle United have lost their manager and so many key players that helped bring that success, a club that has moved to Newcastle United 2.0 but for many fans it has been a painful 17 months of chaos and decline on the pitch.
Alexander Isak undeniably was the one to light the fuse, but you have to say that the Newcastle United owners were then the ones who after having been presented with the set to explode bomb, simply left the fuse burning and thought it would all sort itself out without their serious care and attention.
It is still beyond belief that the Newcastle United owners watched on as Eddie Howe led his/their team to a trophy and a second Champions League qualification in three seasons, then allowed a summer to happen where there was no Sporting Director or CEO actively working at the club.
Eddie Howe was totally failed by the Newcastle United owners, as were the fans. The summer of 2025 was a disaster.
Nobody has sympathy for Alexander Isak but the fact remains that according to the universal reporting, Amanda Staveley had promised Isak a new much enhanced contract, only for Paul Mitchell to then refuse to honours that promise. Should Amanda Staveley have been making promises that it wasn’t in her power to actually guarantee, should Paul Mitchell have played hard ball and refused to put in place a far more lucrative contract during a season of winning a trophy and securing Champions League football again?
Whether Alexander Isak was always going to leave regardless of the Staveley/Mitchell wages debacle we will never know.
What we do know though, is that the Newcastle United owners totally failed to deal with the Alexander Isak situation and that summer 2025 transfer window overall.
Everybody has their own ideas on what has gone wrong these past 17 or so months but my belief is that the Newcastle United owners absolutely failed Eddie Howe.
The NUFC owners refusing to allow Alexander Isak to leave and then at the last minute, well after the 2025/26 season was underway.
Eddie Howe had wanted the Newcastle United owners to secure Joao Pedro, Hugo Ekitike and other top targets, he was failed by them on pretty much all of them, especially when it came to the essential strikers that were needed as Callum Wilson had also left with age and injuries catching up with him.
With no senior staff in place at NUFC to negotiate and get the key targets signed, the transfer window was allowed to drift so badly. Even the signing of Anthony Elanga took well over a month and then minority shareholder Jamie Reuben had to get involved to even get that (what should have been a) relatively straightforward deal done.
Elanga was the only signing in summer 2025 to have any kind of a proper pre-season with his new teammates. To top it all off, the Newcastle United owners had Eddie Howe and his well below strength and unprepared squad fly off to Singapore and South Korea to help ‘grow the brand’ globally.
If the Isak situation had been properly dealt with, the Newcastle United owners could have sold him to Liverpool and got Hugo Ekitike for Eddie Howe, their failure to act meant the scousers eventually ended up with both of them! Whilst with the NUFC owners leaving things so late, Yoane Wissa was signed at the last minute and the Newcastle United owners then also offered Eddie Howe another late striker signing in the shape of Nick Woltemade. At such a late juncture and with Champions League football to deal with as well, Eddie Howe was in no position to decide whether Big Nick should or shouldn’t be signed, whether he was the right fit, as at that late stage it would have been pretty much impossible to get any other club to let their key striker leave, with minimal chance of replacing them before the window closed.
I have no doubt that Eddie Howe would make some different decisions during that 2025/26 season if he could go back. However, the fact is that the damage was done by Alexander Isak and especially the Newcastle United owners in that summer of 2025, which made it pretty much mission impossible for Eddie Howe and a small squad of players hit by many injuries and having to cope with a crazy 58 match season. Balancing Champions League and domestic football with so man games and so few key quality players, it just wasn’t possible.
Photo by The Mag
As we sit here today though, who wouldn’t settle for say a 2026/27 Newcastle United season that consisted of reaching the last 16 of the Champions League, a cup semi-final and a comfortable mid-table finish in the Premier League?
The goalposts have well and truly moved now, as things currently look.
With now key senior staff in place with CEO David Hopkinson and Sporting Director Ross Wilson, this summer we have moved to Newcastle United 2.0 in the project.
UEFA SCR issues have hit hard and no great flexibility possible when it came to the summer 2026 transfer window, unless key players were sold. Even then, the wage bill had to come down and the decision by Ross Wilson and the Newcastle United owners to concentrate on young inexperienced talent from weaker overseas leagues, to replace the likes of Bruno, Tonali, Trippier, Gordon (and Isak?).
A new manager arriving only 18 days before the season started after Eddie Howe informed the Newcastle United owners when he came back for pre-season that he wouldn’t be able to continue, his race was run, but he would hold the fort until the new man arrived.
A ridiculous early season injury list and a newly constructed squad based on young inexperienced overseas talent that was always going to take time to gel and (hopefully!) prosper, this is where we are at now.
I have every sympathy for Matthias Jaissle and the youthful looking squad that Ross Wilson has constructed.
This season was always going to be tough and the 2026/27 Premier League already suggesting that there will be no easy games and I would say the majority of clubs are capable of getting dragged into the relegation battle, Newcastle United amongst them.
I don’t think there was any kind of quick fix available this summer but what I do very much wonder about, is where we might have been now if the Newcastle United owners had given the care and consideration to have a proper plan in place (and the senior staff to implement it…) to take advantage of a spectacular 2024/25 season of winning silverware and qualifying for the Champions League.
I don’t think it is all doom and gloom now and hopefully with the treatment room starting to empty, Matthias Jaissle and his players can get some confidence and momentum back in place.
However, these last 17 months do feel like a huge opportunity has been missed and the Newcastle United owners left to reflect on where they went wrong, especially in summer 2025.