Newcastle United fans preparing for the 2026/27 Premier League season.
Less than three weeks to go now until Liverpool travel to St James’ Park.
An ‘interesting’ summer so far…
So many talking points.
An ideal time to get a snapshot of views from Newcastle United fans on their thoughts.
So we sent out questions to a number of regular/irregular contributors to The Mag, varying to a degree the questions that different fans received to answer.
First up answering some questions is Davey Hat-Trick:
Three words to describe how you currently feel as a Newcastle United fan?
Underwhelmed, impotent, unsurprised
Three words to describe this summer 2026 NUFC transfer window so far?
Disappointing, risky, inevitable
Do you think Newcastle United would have had more or less chance of having a successful 2026/27 season if Eddie Howe had stayed?
I really don’t know. I’ll give the new manager a chance before I jump on that bandwagon
Hand on heart, what position do you currently believe Newcastle United are most likely to finish in the 2026/27 Premier League season?
9th
If Eddie Howe had stayed would your 2026/27 prediction have been different (up or down…)?
Not really. He’d have been dealt the same hand. No manager would find it easy to deal with losing top players and replacing them with ‘potential’.
Do you see a potential lack of leadership on the pitch next season if Bruno Guimaraes follows Kieran Trippier out of the club?
I do. The only natural leader left will be Dan Burn – unless one of the new lads shows something special – and he won’t get too many minutes if everyone is fit (and still here). Joelinton leads by example, but isn’t vocal with his team mates. I noticed BDB giving instructions to his England colleagues when he was on the pitch in the World Cup
The opening six league games are Liverpool home, Spurs away, Bournemouth home, Leeds away, Hull home and Coventry away. How many points would Newcastle need to take for you to be happy and what would you predict will be the reality?
Right now, I’d take eight. I see five
What do you see as the biggest priorities in the remainder of the transfer market this summer?
Well not another flipping goalkeeper! There will be lots of Geordies screaming for a new striker, but realistically, there is no one I’d take. We’ve been ‘linked’ with Nicolas Jackson and Liam Delap, but I wouldn’t want either. I WOULD take Ivan Toney, if he wants to follow his manager to England, but I suspect we can’t afford the wages. I think we need a right back – Tino will get injured trotting onto the pitch in our first game, and it’s not fair on Lewis Miley to expect him to play there.
I’d take a central defender. Botman and Schär are made of glass, and Dan Burn is getting on.
If there’s an experienced midfielder out there, I’d think about signing him. For all I know Bamba and Steur may turn out to be made for the PL, but the former just turned 20, and Steur is 18. It’s a lot to expect them to shine against the Liverpool midfield.
Sandro Tonali leaving, your thoughts?
It peeved me a lot less than Isak leaving, but that’s a high bar. I think he is an outstanding footballer, but I never really felt like he bought into NUFC. I was not surprised he went. I was a bit surprised he joined Tottenham, but I’m sure his pay packet will helps to assuage any doubts he has.
By say Christmas and with all players fit, what do you predict will be the Newcastle United first choice eleven for the 2026/27 season and please put ‘new signing’ in any position where you think that will turn out to be the case.
All players fit, you say? I’m going to predict Bruno and Hall will be gone. And I think Jaissle may go for a 4-4-2 diamond formation as he did at Salzburg. He also plays a relentless pressing game, so I expect to see the young lads doing the nard yards…
Hornicek
Livramento
Thiaw
Botman
New signing
Bamba
Steur
Miley
Woltemade
Touré
Osula
What would represent success now in the 2026/27 season for Newcastle United?
Honestly, it’s a season of consolidation for me. Anything above 12th (last season’s position) would be OK with me. And some optimism around a couple of the new signings
Predict the top six in the Premier League (in order) and which three clubs will be relegated in 2026/27.
Man City
Arsenal
Man U
Villa
Liverpool
Chelsea
Hull
Ipswich
Sunderland
Which eight current Newcastle United players (in order) are going to be most important for the 2026/27 season?
“Current” includes Bruno at the time of writing, but he’s gone as far as I can see. And I haven’t seen enough of the new lads to form an opinion. But let’s say – in no particular order –
Miley
Hall (if he stays…)
Bamba
Touré
Steur
Thiaw
Botman
Livramento
NUFC CEO David Hopkinson said the intention is that by 2030 the club will be competing to win all competitions. What do you make of what he said?
He’s just a mouthpiece who gets paid well to spout whatever he is told to. He reminds me of one of Donald Trump’s trained monkeys. There isn’t a hope in hell we’ll be competing on all fronts in four years. Football finances work in a way that means we will always lose our top players. The “big six” can double or treble the wages of every player at Newcastle, so we’ll never build a competitive squad while the PL don’t allow us to.
The hierarchy at SJP have been teasing the fans about a new stadium for five years now. That would help, yet we are yet to see a plan that wasn’t cobbled together by some influencer with a decent bit of software. Even if they announced a new ground tomorrow, it wouldn’t generate enough revenue to make us competitive by 2030.
Davis Hopkinson talks rubbish.
How would you rate your optimism for next season at Newcastle United from 0-100?
50. Right in the middle. An exciting new manager with some raw young talent could take the PL by storm. Or could be caught in the eye of a storm.
How important (or not) is a huge new stadium for Newcastle United?
See above. It’s important from a financial standpoint more than a fan’s. If it ever gets built, it needs to be like Spurs’ stadium. It retails almost 24 hours a day, not just on matchdays. I’d also caution against anyone thinking a new stadium will mean more tickets for the man on the street. My guess is that 80% of extra places will go to corporate/hospitality clients. Unfortunately, Premier League finances dictate that the prawn sandwich brigade are the sort of fans clubs need to attract.
When the takeover happened on 7 October 2021, if somebody at that point had told you then what would happen by August 2026, would you have taken it?
Yes I would. We were going nowhere (at best) under Ashley, and the new regime have delivered a trophy, two Champions League qualifications and some outstanding footballers.
What thoughts do you have on the 2026 World Cup finals overall?
I quite enjoyed it, but I’ve forgotten all about it now. Teams like Cabo Verde made me realise what a great game football can be. So did the Scots fans. But everything Infantino did before, during and and after the World Cup makes me sick – he’s all about power and money (his), and he should go.
Bruno Guimaraes wanting to leave Newcastle United after four and a half years, has that changed your opinion of him as a person?
It’s a symptom of the modern game. If you believe – as I do – that the more a club spends, the better it will tend to do, then the FA have created a cartel that will always have a better chance of success. It’s a virtuous circle for a small number of clubs, and the rest don’t matter. I’m sure Newcastle would love to match the wages Arsenal are throwing at him, but they can’t. Bruno is 28. He has three peak years left, I’d say, and I can’t blame him for wanting to make as much money as he can while he can. Then he’ll go off to Saudi or the MLS to finish his career. He isn’t the first and he won’t be the last.
Claimed back in October 2021 that Newcastle United was simply a ‘Sportswashing’ project for Saudi Arabia, has that proved to be the reality?
I don’t see how. I’m not sure anyone can define exactly what that means. I don’t like the Saudi regime, but all manner of people want a piece of English football. Mike Ashley used Newcastle to promote Sports Direct.
Who would you have liked to see replace Eddie Howe, Matthias Jaissle or somebody else?
Ask me again at Christmas! We were never going to get a Pep or a Poch, and I can’t think of any obvious candidates that we could attract. I’m happy to give Jaissle the benefit of the doubt for now.