January 11, 2024. A dark and humid Thursday. The day dreams became reality for Newcastle United. The music didn't die, but the record changed.
'Every player has his price' screamed the headlines, and the horror was palpable in the dressing room and on the terraces. The atmosphere hasn't been the same at St James' Park since.
Senior players were 'put off' by CEO Darren Eales' admission that, if the money was right, one of them could be sold. On reflection, Eales was honest. It was intended to soften the landing of a summer battle to sell stars and thus avoid a points deduction that the club privately knew was looming.
But it wasn't meant to be that way, or so we thought. The hierarchical statements of ambition, the Champions League football and the club records made us believe otherwise. This was a fast ride and no one was wearing a seat belt. So when Eales applied the handbrake, it hurt.
From nowhere, Newcastle was once again a selling club. Spending gave way to spending and in two transfer windows since then they have not bought a single first-team starter. Why? Profit and sustainability rules were cited as the reason on that fateful afternoon in January, when Eales spoke to journalists from the boardroom.
PSR is one factor – a very big one – but there is also a failure on the part of the club to sell the right players at the right time and to generate more sponsorship and commercial income. For example, there is still no training ground or training kit partner.
Whatever the cause, the effect was to destabilize team morale and cast doubt on the speed and direction of the project, at least in the short term. A player's career is precious and fleeting, and half a dozen now see their future away from Tyneside if personal ambitions are to be realised.
The summer move of co-owners Amanda Staveley and Mehrdad Ghodoussi has robbed the dressing room of its comfort blanket and connection to the hierarchy, with parts of the squad not reacting kindly to new sporting director Paul Mitchell's introductory tricks.
They were also unimpressed with the travel conditions and itinerary during a week-long trip to Australia after the season. To them it felt like a lack of care, especially as Tottenham flew in and out for one match on a luxury liner. A subsequent preseason camp in Japan was described by some as 'too hot, a waste of time'.
And it hasn't helped that communication from the top has come to a standstill in recent months; the players think this speaks volumes. All this pricks at the threads of a club that seemed so unbreakably woven.
That is the reality, suspended until this year by the fever dream of the Saudi takeover, the magic of Eddie Howe, Alexander Isak's goals, a Carabao Cup final, crushing Paris Saint-Germain, glitzy documentaries and £450 million invested in new players.
Newcastle shot at the moon and to further fuel the rocket there was talk of a new stadium and training ground. Today, these developments seem light years away, at least in the context of the current team's lifespan. As Kevin Keegan once said: 'It's not what it looked like in the brochure.'
Players like Isak, Anthony Gordon and Bruno Guimaraes will almost certainly never play in a new stadium or the new-look St James', or kick a ball on a new training pitch. They know that now.
We revealed last month that the current training complex will be expanded again, but is still extremely substandard compared to their rivals. As one observer quipped, “It's starting to look like Legoland!”
Howe is dealing with the fallout from all of this. If trust and the feeling of being part of an era-defining adventure can inspire a group to exceed the sum of its parts, the opposite is true when you realize that it wasn't a pot of gold on the horizon, but a mirage. This is what we are seeing at Newcastle this season.
Well-placed sources are convinced that the players are still giving everything they gave before, and that the method and tools remain the same as those on which the success of recent seasons has been built. There is no erosion of trust in each other or in the manager. But when marginal gains turn into marginal losses, the difference in results is enormous.
It was Howe who used the word 'old' in response to my question last week, making it clear that he and the team needed, and were owed, help from the club in the form of new faces. It was a big word to introduce into the room – he did it twice – but it is absolutely at the root of the problems that have left this talented side with England's best coach stuck in twelfth place.
It is no surprise that they resemble Newcastle who stormed through the Premier League when facing the bigger teams, when the occasion inspires and demands performance. At St James' this season they have beaten Tottenham, Chelsea and Arsenal and drawn against Manchester City and Liverpool. They have lost to Brighton and West Ham.
Speaking on a recent podcast with Mail Sport columnist Simon Jordan, Howe said: 'There was a desire to make history, to change the club's fortunes forever. That really drove the players. It was an incredible time. We surprised ourselves with what we did. The players actually performed above the level they were capable of.”
He was actually talking about Bournemouth. Yet his words rang so true in terms of motivation during his first two years on Tyneside. But as Alan Shearer said this week, 'the adrenaline rush has given way to a hangover.'
Howe was talking specifically about Newcastle when I asked him on Friday what impact all of the above has had on his group. He paused for a moment and gave an illuminating answer.
“Players are very smart people,” he began. 'I always say that players feel everything at a football club. They are the most observant people because they are on the front lines. They are the ones who deliver for us. So whatever happens in a club, they are the ones who absorb it.”
And what about Howe and his future? He is the right manager, but he must navigate what increasingly feels like the wrong time, regardless of who was in charge. Replace him and you won't change the situation regarding PSR or the doubts of some players. He must have the support of those above him.
But despite all the measures outlined here, there will be very few excuses if Newcastle is packed for the next week before Christmas. It's Leicester at home on Saturday, followed by Brentford in a Carabao Cup quarter-final on Wednesday and then a trip to Ipswich next Saturday – without a home win this season. Three winnable matches. Three games you must win if hope is to replace fear on the way to the festivities.
However, it was a scorching hot week. A 4-2 defeat at Brentford left Shearer questioning the team's attitude and, as revealed by Mail Sport, there were injuries to goalkeeper Nick Pope and striker Callum Wilson, who were sidelined for a month and two months respectively. It all feels like a snowball rolling downhill.
That's why Howe and his players need to stop the negative momentum this week, to pick up their own snowballs and start throwing them. They should still be good enough to challenge for a European place and a domestic cup, and that would mean history after 56 years without silverware.
The dream isn't dead, it's just not as dreamy as once imagined, at least not yet.
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