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 Billy Miller:
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?
It’s hard not to be less optimistic. Mainly because in October 2021 we didn’t know about all the rapid rule changes the Premier League was going to force through to hamstring us. I’m still generally optimistic about the project but I think it will take a long time for us to become number one, if we ever do. There’s a lot of catching up to do. I think we’ll keep regularly qualifying for Europe and challenging in the cups and realistically that’s all I could ever have dreamed of for my team. It would be nice to see another cup win in the next five years. I’ve got money on us to win the league next season at 50/1. It’s the hundred year anniversary of when we last did it and football tends to throw up these strange statistics at times. I appreciate that actually happening is vastly unrealistic though. Hence the odds at 50/1.
Three words to describe how you currently feel as a Newcastle United fan?
Expecting better next
Three words to describe Newcastle United now?
In transition again
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 15
Newcastle United owners (not dealing properly with Isak situation, not having senior staff in place etc to help get summer 2025 transfers done etc) 30
Bad luck and small margins 10
I hold Isak, for his behaviour, and the board for their lack of senior staff and handling of selling Isak/signing appropriate replacements equally responsible and feel that combined they were the most to blame for the season. Eddie Howe isn’t without blame as he has certainly made mistakes too, as have the players.
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 3 – didn’t come anywhere close to justifying his fee but he’s young and has potential. Maybe his entire season would have been different if he’d taken that early chance on the opening day against Villa. Maybe everyone’s entire season would have been different. Wouldn’t write him off yet.
Jacob Ramsey 6 – definitely offers something and grew into it as the season progressed.
Malick Thiaw 8 – Easily our signing of the season. Was fantastic in majority of games. Made a couple of costly errors but that’s hardly surprising given the amount he was forced to play.
Yoane Wissa 2 – would be a 1 if not for his injury mitigation. If he’s still here next season, we’ll hopefully see the real Wissa. If we get more of the same, or he leaves, he’ll surely go down as our worst ever Premier League number 9.
Nick Woltemade 6 – started brightly but faded as the team did and got shuffled all over the place as Eddie Howe sought to find his best role. Still think he had a decent debut season, scored some fantastic goals and has a bright future.
What do you see as the biggest priorities in the transfer market this summer?
Goalkeeper, full back that can cover right and left, left winger, right winger. At least one of the latter two ideally able to operate right across the frontline. I can’t see us signing a senior striker unless one of our current three leave. Although I’m sure many would have a striker near the top of their list, a quality one will cost a lot and we have already spent big in that department and need to inject money elsewhere. I think with a full pre-season, and William Osula now looking like a valid option, we’ll get a lot more from our three forwards next time out.
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 think his time with us has come to a natural conclusion. He’s never returned to the devastating form of the 23/24 season and certainly doesn’t feel irreplaceable. He’s scored plenty of goals for us, including many important ones and I think he should leave with our appreciation.
We need to get used to having to sell players at the right time to then be able to trade well ourselves. Hard to say how he’ll do at Barca. If he gets back to his best, I’m sure he’ll be a success.
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)?
I don’t think we could have ever kept him by that point. He would have stunk the place out. It’s hard to say our season would have gone any worse, certainly in the league. But I think there’s a good chance he would have either continued his strike or repeatedly feigned injuries or just not tried at all. The likeliness of seeing the striker that had been so prolific for us in previous campaigns seems slim.
If he had been poor for the first half of the season, we would have been forced to sell him anyway but would have struggled to get anywhere near the price we managed to achieve in the summer.
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
Livramento
Thiaw
Botman
Hall
Osula
Tonali
Bruno
Joelinton
Barnes
Woltemade
Not many new signings in there, I know. I think that anyone coming in would be blooded slowly as is typically the Howe way. Osula has definitely earned more game time and I think could be dangerous cutting in off the right with Woltemade playing sleek through balls to him. I’d also to see more of him and Woltemade paired up front with Barnes, Bruno or Ramsey operating as a number 10 in front of a midfield three. Our wingers didn’t offer nearly enough this season and I think we need to learn to operate in different ways, especially against teams that sit in and don’t give us space to run in behind.
Is Eddie Howe still in charge next season the correct decision?
100%. He has had one bad season since he arrived. I know in the era of instant gratification, that can be enough to lose your job, but I’ve always said he deserves another full term to turn it around. That means not getting on his back if we have a slow start to the season. He’s worthy of one more full season and if it’s getting to May and we’re miles off Europe, it will probably be the right time to identify his successor.
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 think they all need to stay now. I expected one of Gordon, Tonali and Livramento to go and Gordon has already left. With the number of new signings we already need to bring in, losing any more key players could be devastating. I’m a little bit nervous regarding media rumours about Hall. With his Newcastle supporting background, I assumed he’d be someone that’s here for years to come. Hopefully we can get him and Tino signed up to new contracts and get another few years out of them at least. The only one I’d be slightly open to losing is Tino due to his contract situation and the time he spends injured. If we got £50/60 million for him, that’d be good business. It would need to be £100m+ for Bruno or Tonali for us to even consider it.
Which players emerge with credit for the 2025/26 season?
Bruno, Hall, Thiaw and Osula are the main ones for me. Lots of players had decent spells but the first three were consistently good for the majority of the season and Osula, when given his chance, was outstanding at the tail end.
What would represent success in the 2026/27 season for Newcastle United?
A European spot and a nice cup run. Winning the FA Cup I think should be the outright goal this year. With less games to play we can throw everything at the cups. I’d expect us to finish in the top six. With Tottenham now under a good manager, with no European football and Chelsea the same, I think those two could be a lot more competitive next year too. I think to get Champions League we’ll need the five places and a real drop off from some of those clubs burdened by European football. We should be able to get into the top seven though and be able to enjoy the continent once more the following season.
What do you see as the minimum to achieve this coming season?
Finishing above Sunderland is an absolute must. Other than that, it needs to be a top seven finish for me.
Which eight current Newcastle United players (in order) are the most important to keep for the 2026/27 season?
Bruno
Tonali
Hall
Thiaw
Joelinton
Barnes
Livramento
Woltemade
Not included Miley in there simply because he’s signed a new long term contract and isn’t going anywhere but he’d definitely get into my top five.
At what point did you first think the 2025/26 Newcastle United wasn’t going to turn out as you had hoped it would?
Possibly the home loss to Sunderland but probably it was only really the Forest away game when it finally sunk in. The whole time, despite us being poor, the teams above us kept dropping points and there was still a chance of Europe. I am probably in the minority where I was hoping for one of the lesser European competitions all season as I felt a) we could win them and b) we’d be able to rotate more against the standard of opposition and be able to compete better on all fronts. When Forest equalised against us it made Europe almost impossible and then, the following weekend, Sunderland’s win at Everton ruled it out altogether.
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)?
It’s looking like we’re going to be targeting a lot of young players this summer. I’m not going to pretend I know much (anything) about every exciting prospect on the continent, so I’ll stick to established players. That Yan Diomande is one I’ve seen and does look exciting but he seems nailed on for Liverpool.
I’ve already done an article on the relegated players I’d like us to target so I won’t go back over any of them but there are a handful of experienced free agents I wouldn’t mind us plucking.
Harry Wilson, 29 years old and coming off his best ever season. He’s not an elite player but I’d say he’s more capable than either of our current right wing options. He’s also left footed which is something we currently lack from our wing options. He doesn’t have the blistering pace that Howe usually favours from his wingers, however he is very technically able and against teams that pack their defence I think he’d be a lot more effective than our current wingers.
A few weeks ago, the rumour was Darwin Nunez was going to be released from his contract. It’s looking less likely now and there appear to be quite a few suitors for him regardless. He would certainly provide pace, power and presence in our frontline if he fancied another crack at the Premier League.
My favourite German team is Dortmund and my favourite player of theirs is leaving this summer on a free. Julian Brandt can play virtually anywhere in the midfield. His preference is the number 10 role, but he can operate deeper and on the wings. He’s got an eye for goals and assists with him averaging not far off one every other game across his time at Dortmund (127 in 307, courtesy of Transfermarkt). Highly unlikely we’d go for a player of his age, 30, with little prospect of much sell on value and no experience playing in our division but he’s another with cracking technical ability.
We need to get better at breaking down teams that sit back and stifle us. Currently we only really have Bruno and Woltemade (Ramsey showed signs of it late in the season) that can play killer passes in tight situations. Players like Brandt and Wilson could offer us something different when setting up against those stubborn sides.
How would you rate your optimism for next season at Newcastle United from 0-100?
Ever the optimist. I’ll go for 80%. It’s got to be better than this season… right? Surely?
Will you be taking an active interest in the Newcastle players at the World Cup?
Absolutely. Number one priority is they stay fit of course, but I like to see our players do well on the world stage. Will be hard to get too supportive of Elanga’s Sweden though considering the other bloke they have playing for them.
When Anthony Gordon is playing at the World Cup will you still be thinking of him as one of our own?
He earned his place as a Newcastle player so for this tournament I do still see him as Newcastle player that got selected.
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?
I’m writing this article whilst sat in my Tampa hotel room before heading off to watch our first friendly. I’ll be at both friendlies and the opening group game before I head back so consider me interested.
I don’t think England will win it. The potential quarter final showdown with Brazil in Miami may do for us. France or Spain must be forerunners but if England don’t win, I’d like to see Brazil do it because my girlfriend is Brazilian (and of course to support our captain).