It is almost here, Newcastle United up against Liverpool on Sunday.
Fair to say that the mood around the NUFC fanbase is less than confident.
When it comes to Liverpool fans though, it is arguably even worse.
Indeed, ahead of the new season The Athletic asked all of their subscribers if they were optimistic or pessimistic ahead of the new season. Newcastle United fans were 17th of 20 when it comes to their hopes for the 2026/27 season, Liverpool fans were 20th of 20.
It doesn’t mean the Liverpool fans think their team are going to finish bottom of the Premier League but it should make Newcastle United fans realise that they are not the only ones with concerns about their club/team and the direction of travel.
Newcastle United dropped by 17 points in 2025/26 compared to 2024/25, Liverpool dropped by 24 points.
The Liverpool fans were unbelievably quick to turn on Arne Slot when they realised he had won the title with the team built by Jurgen Klopp and then wasted incredible amounts of money in the summer 2025 transfer window.
Liverpool with a huge net spend of around £235m last season, which absolutely dwarfed the £85m or so Newcastle United net spend last season.
Both clubs have had a change of manager this summer and history shows that Liverpool fans are very quick to turn on the manager if results go the wrong way. In our Newcastle United bubble it is easy for us to ignore the fact that Andoni Iraola is under far more pressure than Matthias Jaissle.
You would have to be a Liverpool fan in your mid 80s or older now, to have been an adult fan of the scousers the last time they finished lower than eighth in the English top tier, back in 1962.
None of us as Newcastle United fans are expecting Sunday to be easy, a summer of change has seen the loss of the likes of talisman Bruno Guimaraes as well as Tonali and Gordon, whilst some £180m invested in six new signings aged 24 and under.
For Liverpool fans though, they have lost their talisman Mo Salah plus the likes of Konate and Robertson, whilst spending around £100m so far on bringing in Munoz and Jacquet, as well as Araujo on an initial loan.
Newcastle United fans not too enthused by pre-season results but Liverpool fans very similar, leading 2-0 against Leeds before collapsing and losing 4-2, leading 2-0 at Anfield against Monaco before collapsing and losing 3-2, before most recently managing a 2-0 victory over Como.
If Sunday was at Anfield I would no doubt have a very different perspective.
However, this St James’ Park occasion is a huge opportunity for both the fans and players of Newcastle United to blow away the frustrations and tensions of recent weeks and months.
It might all go wrong on Sunday BUT it might not.
It will be a very emotional day and once the Kevin Keegan tributes have been paid and the actual game of football kicks off, it is down to all of us to do our bit.
Liverpool and their fans will for sure not be seeing a trip to St James’ Park as an ideal place to start this new Andoni Iraola era and the opportunity is there for Newcastle United to capitalise.
Matthias Jaissle has conformed that Joelinton and Tino Livramento won’t be available but when it comes to Liverpool, they have Hugo Ekitike, Conor Bradley, Jayden Danns, Giovanni Leoni and Joe Gomez all out injured, with the availability of Federico Chiesa, Stefan Bajcetic and Curtis Jones in doubt as well.
With Ekitike long-term injured, that puts even more huge pressure on Alexander Isak. I don’t think he will for one minute be relishing this first match against Newcastle United since he did what he did. It wouldn’t be the greatest surprise either if Isak felt one of those injury niggles that is enough to keep him out of the occasional match…
I would be far more worried on Sunday if say Newcastle United were at home to a full of optimism and excitement promoted Coventry side and fans, their first Premier League match in forever. Even worse if Newcastle had started their season away at somewhere like Coventry.
For many neutrals and indeed many Newcastle United fans, Sunday instead feels almost like a free hit, where anything other than defeat would feel like a victory for those in black and white.
I have seen countless surprise outcomes of Newcastle United matches down the years, both good and bad.
Matthias Jaissle and his team getting a point, or even a win, wouldn’t be anywhere near close to featuring towards the top of that list of surprises across the decades.
Cut out the daft mistakes at the back and find a way to score the first goal, it is more than possible that Newcastle United fans can be feeling very differently when they hit the city centre pubs post-match on Sunday night.
Our job is simple, support the team throughout the 90+ minutes whatever happens on the pitch.