We wanted to get an overview of how Newcastle United fans are feeling at the moment.
Thoughts on the 2025/26 season that has just concluded.
As one season ends though, thoughts immediately turn to what comes next, only 11 weeks to go until the 2026/27 Premier League kicks off.
An ideal time to get a snapshot of views from Newcastle United fans on their thoughts, with a busy summer ahead of us all.
So we sent out questions to a number of regular/irregular contributors to The Mag.
Next up answering the questions is Matt Busby said to Joe Harvey…:
Which eight current Newcastle United players (in order) are the most important to keep for the 2026/27 season?
Guimaraes
Hall
Thiaw
Tonali
Ramsey
Botman
Woltemade
Barnes
At what point did you first think the 2025/26 Newcastle United wasn’t going to turn out as you had hoped it would?
Arsenal at home.
Whilst it was very early in the season and we led and we only really lost the game because of Livramento going off injured thanks to Gabriel’s thuggery, I sensed that day that we weren’t really at the races against the sort of side that was going to be in contention for the league title. It was a rotten end to a match in which we’d flattered to deceive. Successive away defeats on the south coast of England (Brighton), the capital (Brentford and West Ham), then the south coast of France (Marseilles) made me think we had more than a soft underbelly.
Three words to describe how you currently feel as a Newcastle United fan?
Jaded, beleaguered, frustrated
Three words to describe Newcastle United now?
Needing to transition
Newcastle United fell from 5th to 12th in the Premier League, what percentage of the blame/responsibility would you attach to each of these?
Alexander Isak 30%
Eddie Howe 15%
The players 25%
Newcastle United owners 20%
Bad luck and small margins 10%
What rating out of 10 would you give each of the permanent summer 2025 signings for their contributions across the 2025/26 season and what are your hopes/expectations (if any) for each of them next season at Newcastle United?
Anthony Elanga 1, needs to improve beyond recognition
Jacob Ramsey 6, hoping he can continue growing into the role
Malick Thiaw 7, played too much but settled in better than all the others so can hopefully kick on
Yoane Wissa 0, needs to improve beyond recognition and stop swapping shirts with opponents at the end of matches and look like he gives a stuff
Nick Woltemade 6, played too often, too soon then ran out of steam, I’m hoping he has a future with us
What do you see as the biggest priorities in the transfer market this summer?
The spine and some quality wingers?
Was it the correct decision to sell Anthony Gordon and how do you think he should be judged on his time at Newcastle United (and do you think he will prove a success at Barcelona)?
Yes, I feel his heart was no longer in it and we’ve made a tidy profit once his amortised value is taken into account. As fans of NUFC, we need to stop getting emotionally attached to individual players. They come and go. Move on. The sale of Gordon made good business sense to cash in on a player who wasn’t even on the pitch when we won the cup. Just saying…..
The Newcastle United owners refused to sell Alexander Isak across summer 2025, only to then do so on deadline day. If they had carried out their reported intention to make him stay and the window had closed with Isak still at the club (plus Wissa and/or Woltemade not signed), how do you predict things would have then turned out for Alexander Isak and Newcastle United (Would he have still refused to train and play? How would Newcastle’s season have turned out? etc etc)?
Isak proved there’s no loyalty in football and in the days of PSR, I believe his antics were as transformative as the Bosman ruling all those years ago. He could afford to rot in the stiffs, a club with the financial equivalent of the sword of damocles hanging over it could not afford to punish the rebellious Swede in that way.
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.
New signing
Hall
Thiaw
Botman
New signing
Tonali
Guimaraes
Ramsey
New signing/Woltemade
Barnes
New signing
Is Eddie Howe still in charge next season the correct decision?
Yes. End of…..
How confident are you that Newcastle will not lose Bruno, Hall, Livramento, Thiaw and Tonali? Do you think it would be a good thing if any of these players were sold?
I believe Livramento has already left. I’m hoping the others can be retained, although as I’ve said above, we need to view players going as transactional and necessary to move us forward.
Which players emerge with credit for the 2025/26 season?
For me, Hall and Guimaraes were the only players that either exceeded expectations or reinforced their credentials.
What would represent success in the 2026/27 season for Newcastle United?
A trophy or Champions League qualification.
What do you see as the minimum to achieve this coming season?
European football and a cup final.
Predict the top six in the Premier League (in order) and which three clubs will be relegated in 2026/27.
Man City
Arsenal
Chelsea
Newcastle
Aston Villa
Liverpool
Ipswich
Sunderland
Hull
Which players do you think would be ideal (and realistic) signings this summer (don’t feel limited to only players who have been linked to Newcastle United in the media)?
I don’t play FIFA so I have no idea who all these up and coming youngsters are! From my limited knowledge, how about Trafford, Delap and possibly Scalvini?
We are now coming up to five years since the Newcastle United owners bought the club from Mike Ashley. Are you now more or less (or the same) optimistic about where they will take the club compared to how you felt back in October 2021? How committed do you think the owners are now to NUFC? Yasir Al-Rumayyan said the intention was to make Newcastle number one in the world, CEO David Hopkinson says the intention is that by 20230 the club will be competing to win all competitions. What do you predict will be the reality in the next five years?
Whilst I expect our off-field finances will continue to improve, both through additional sponsorship and flirtation with the Champions League, it’s going to take a lot longer than five years to rein in the so-called top six. If we could qualify for the Champions League another twice and win another trophy within those timescales, that wouldn’t be too shabby!
How would you rate your optimism for next season at Newcastle United from 0-100?
It depends on the summer transfer window. Right now, it’s probably less than 50. I need to see who comes and goes before it gets past the halfway point…..
Will you be taking an active interest in the Newcastle players at the World Cup?
To an extent, but put it this way, if the DR Congo are playing at some godforsaken hour, I won’t be staying up late to watch our man Wissa.
When Anthony Gordon is playing at the World Cup will you still be thinking of him as one of our own?
No. Doesn’t he play for Barcelona?
What level of interest generally will you have in the World Cup and what is your prediction on who will win it and how far do you think England will get?
Once it kicks off, my interest will increase, but up until now my interest is at such a low point that I genuinely don’t even know who is in England’s group. A colleague was telling me how much it is going to cost him to get to New Jersey for the France versus Senegal match – some ten times the normal cost of public transport in that vicinity, which is an absolute disgrace. I have been in the company of a number of work colleagues from across the globe recently and only the young lad from Portugal talked up his own country’s chances. The Brazilians, the Argentines, and even the Spanish didn’t think they’d carry it off. Whilst they all suggested England could go far, I think they were being polite! For me, glorious failure is likely to be the order of the day, although with Tommy Tuchel at the helm, you never know, the guy is a serial winner.