WHERE are Newcastle United positioned at the start of the new Premier League season? Are they the ‘richest club in the world’, awash with Saudi Arabian cash and primed to return to the Champions League, upsetting the established order at the top of English football in the process? Or are they effectively paupers, hamstrung by Profit and Sustainability rules, haggling endlessly in an attempt to make signings and needing to hawk their leading stars to all and sundry in a desperate attempt to avoid a points penalty?
The answer is that they are both. Which is why, as the new campaign begins against Southampton tomorrow afternoon, it remains difficult to know where the Magpies should be setting their ambitions. A tilt at the title? A return to the top four? European qualification of any description? As Eddie Howe knows only too well, expectation and reality can be uneasy bedfellows when it comes to life at St James’ Park.
“I’ve got no issue with dealing and working with the restrictions that we're under,” said the Newcastle boss, who could well name a starting XI tomorrow afternoon that does not contain a single summer signing. “But the expectations then have to be adjusted to the reality of the world we're living in.
“Sometimes, there's a misalignment, there's constantly talking about, 'The richest club in the world’ and we've got all this money, but we're not allowed to spend it, so expectations have to be adjusted, in my opinion.”
So, does that mean it would be wrong to dream? Not entirely. Howe knows he has to strike a delicate balance between keeping expectations at a realistic level and not dampening the enthusiasm in the St James’ Park stands that has always been one of Newcastle’s biggest assets.
“I don’t want to dampen people’s enthusiasm, or aims or dreams,” Howe continued. “I don’t want to be seen as a negative and trying to kill things, absolutely not. I want the Newcastle supporters to turn up on Saturday believing we are capable of greatness and great things and long-term success.”
He also wants to be the boss that finally ends the Magpies’ seemingly interminable wait for major silverware. We are now entering the 70th season since Newcastle won their last major domestic trophy, a remarkable statistic, and one that Howe is desperate to address.
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There will always be an element of luck to the cup competitions – Newcastle have already been handed a difficult assignment in the second round of the Carabao Cup after they were drawn away to Nottingham Forest - but unlike the previous regime, who actively downplayed the importance of the cups, the current regime know just how much winning a trophy would mean on Tyneside.
“That’s the ultimate goal – to lift a trophy or trophies on a consistent basis,” said Howe. “That has to be Newcastle’s aim from now onwards. Of course, I share that vision and I’m encouraging it.
“But I think if you’re focusing purely on the outcome of a trophy, you’re losing sight of what you have to do. We need to improve everything. We have to be smarter in the transfer market, we have to improve our training, we have to improve every aspect of the football club to try to get there. I’m very much in the middle of the process, not thinking about the end result. That’s for other people.”
To that end, Howe has been working on trying to improve some of the aspects of Newcastle’s play that let them down last season.
There were mitigating factors behind the Magpies’ failure to finish in the top six – a crippling injury list, the demands of the Champions League, Sandro Tonali’s betting ban – but there were also games in which Howe’s side let themselves down.
The quality of their defending was an issue on occasion, something the Magpies boss has been trying to address over the summer.
“Last year, we had difficult spells,” he said. “But the attitude of the group was always very good and we finished the season strongly.
“I want the team to evolve. I want to see us scoring in the way we were last year, our attacking play was second to none, and I want to improve that in any way we can. But certainly, defensively, that is the big area from last season we have to improve. We need big gains in that area.
“I think we have evolved the squad, and that’s not necessarily always in terms of personnel. Of course, yes, we can have a couple of incomings. But it's more, ‘Can we take the team on tactically? Can we take the team on with how we're playing?’
“We're trying to do that all the time, we're trying to add layers to our game, we're trying to improve. Have we done that? I think we have done that during pre-season. Obviously, the proof will be in what we deliver going into the season. But I think the players we have here and the squad we have is in a good place and is ready to play.”
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