As a journalist covering Newcastle United, I was fortunate to report on some big moments at the club.

Over two decades, I documented cup finals, promotions and relegations from press boxes up and down the country.

There were highs and lows on the pitch, but there was always as much going on off the field at St James’ Park.

Not long after I started covering the club, when the late, great Sir Bobby Robson was manager, it qualified for the Champions League.

But European football was not on the agenda for most of Mike Ashley’s time as owner, and the memorable 2011/12 season, which delivered Europa League football through a fifth-placed finish, was an outlier.

In the summer of 2011, I was in the USA for a pre-season tour where everything that could go wrong seemingly did (and Alan Pardew boiled over in a bagel shop), but the team, inspired by Hatem Ben Arfa’s individual brilliance and calmly led by Fabricio Coloccini, got it right collectively on the pitch.

But, more often than not, the club was competing to stay up in the Ashley years.

The relegation battles, while newsy for journalists, were not much fun for anyone, and, for many, many years, what supporters wanted was news of a successful takeover by ambitious new owners.

And, eventually, that story was written.

This week marked the five-year anniversary of one of the biggest stories I reported on.

It started like any other day, but by the time the sun set on October 7, 2021, the club was under new ownership.

And, as thousands gathered at St James’ Park to celebrate, I was one of the journalists invited to the Jesmond Dene House to speak to Amanda Staveley, club’s new co-owner, at Jesmond Dene House.

Fellow co-owners, Mehrdad Ghodoussi, Staveley’s husband, and Jamie Reuben were there too.

Staveley wanted to visit St James’ Park that night, but she was advised against it for safety reasons given the huge number of supporters celebrating outside.

She would have to wait to get the keys. Instead, she did interview after interview at the hotel, outlining her vision for the club, which was 80%-owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund following the takeover.

Ashley, of course, never spoke to the print journalists who reported on the club, so speaking to one of the new owners on day one was itself a revelation.

Communication is so important. I had missed the often-robust exchanges that my colleagues and myself used to have with the late Freddy Shepherd, who had been chairman of the club up to Ashley’s takeover.

Staveley made it very clear that communication was a priority for her following the takeover.

Once I had asked my last question, I showed Staveley photographs posted on social media of fans outside the stadium, and she was stunned by the sheer numbers of supporters celebrating the takeover.

Those scenes were a reminder, if one was needed, just why she had never given up on the deal.

“You don’t feel you deserve that,” she said at the time. “You understand the responsibility you’ve taken on, and we’re not going to let people down, but also I’m not going to make promises I can’t keep too.”

Staveley, however, had just taken over a husk of a club, as it had been hollowed out and streamlined over the previous 14 years. Commercial revenues had stagnated.

The focus is always on spending on players, but investment was needed in all sorts of areas, which was something Staveley stressed just hours after the takeover was completed.

“We’ve got to get investment into the academy, investment into the training ground, into players,” she said.

“We appreciate the gem we’re custodians of, and we’ll make sure that every single part of this club is dusted down, and we’ll invest in all levels. We’ve got to. It’s critical.

“It can’t happen without that… we don’t want to make knee-jerk decisions, but we know we’ll be investing very heavily over the next few years.”

Staveley had taken on a long-term project, but the early investment in players – and incoming head coach Eddie Howe and his staff – paid dividends.

Nobody outside St James’ Park that night would have envisaged a first domestic trophy in 60 years – or two Champions League campaigns – in the first half-decade under new ownership given that winless Newcastle were 19th in the Premier League at the time.

In a very short space of time, Howe built a team which looked capable of establishing itself in the top four.

That side has since been broken up.

Domestic and European financial rules, which disadvantage ambitious, well-funded clubs, played a part in the departures of Alexander Isak, Bruno Guimaraes, Sandro Tonali, Anthony Gordon, Elliot Anderson and Yankuba Minteh.

Kieran Trippier, the all-important first post-takeover signing, also left this summer.

Chief executive officer David Hopkinson spoke about “Newcastle 2.0” after Howe was succeeded by Mathias Jaissle in July 31.

Staveley – who left the club in 2024 after presiding over a remarkable on-pitch transformation – had stressed that it was a long-term project on day one, and the biggest challenges still lie ahead.

As Jaissle rebuilds the team, fans are waiting for news on a much bigger building job, with the club still assessing options for an expanded St James’ Park and a new stadium.

And the question now is where will the club be, on and off the pitch, in five years time.

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One player was almost forgotten amid the comings and goings at Newcastle United this summer.

Out went Eddie Howe along with Anthony Gordon, Sandro Tonali, Bruno Guimaraes and Kieran Trippier, while the club appointed Mathias Jaissle as head coach and recruited eight senior players.

There could well have been another departure.

But first, think back to the 2020/21 campaign, Steve Bruce’s second full season in charge of the team.

One player, in particular, enlivened the second half of that campaign following a mid-season arrival on loan.

Things had seemingly been unravelling at Christmas. A strong Newcastle XI was beaten in a Carabao Cup quarter-final by much-changed Brentford, then a Championship club.

I remember thinking that Bruce was fortunate that the game had been played behind closed doors due to the coronavirus pandemic, and he was seemingly facing “tough questions” following the defeat.

Bruce went on to anger fans by talking about what he saw as “histrionics” following that behind-closed-doors loss in west London.

That quote, delivered after a Boxing Day defeat at Manchester City was eye-opening, particularly as Bruce had said that the team should accept whatever criticism came its way following the cup exit.

Enter Joe Willock. The midfielder joined on a half-season loan from Arsenal in the mid-season transfer window – and gave the team a new dimension. He seemed to be able to effortlessly glide up the pitch and find spaces in the final third.

By the time it got to May, he had really got into his stride, scoring in seven successive Premier League appearances and equalling a club record set by Alan Shearer.

It was quite a feat, his final goal of the campaign coming in a season-ending 2-0 win over Fulham in front of then-owner Mike Ashley, and that afternoon at Craven Cottage underlined his potential.

Time and again, he drove up the pitch with the ball, creating openings for himself and his team-mates.

He joined on a permanent deal that summer, and went on to play his part in the historic Carabao Cup win and two Champions League campaigns.

Yet this summer, the only talk of Willock was of him possibly leaving, with the 27-year-old having spent more and more time on the bench.

There was reported interest from Besiktas, but a move did not materialise before the September 1 transfer deadline.

A “maturing” Willock, instead, has been given a “new lease of life” by Jaissle, and he took his goal tally for the season to two with the only goal of the game in Tuesday’s Carabao Cup win over Millwall.

Speaking to journalists this week, he said: “I feel valued. It is like my fifth year at the club and I am really maturing in the way I think towards the team and getting older.

“There are a lot of young players coming in. It’s a different role for me this season. I want to help others, and push on in my career as well.

“The new manager has given me a new lease of life, I am really happy he’s here and happy working under him.

“He is a really young exciting coach, and we’re all learning a lot from him. It’s a good time to be a Newcastle player.”

Willock, in the final year of his contract, is set to earn a one-year extension to his deal, according to the Daily Mail, along with Jacob Murphy, whose own United career was seemingly saved by a night in Morecambe six years ago.

I interviewed Willock a couple of years ago during the club’s pre-season tour of Japan, and he revealed how his mobile phone screensaver was motivating him.

Asked if he wanted to break into the senior England squad, the former Under-21 international said: “100%, I’ve got my screensaver on my phone as my aspirations for the season, and to play for my country is one of the biggest aspirations I have.”

Willock will have a new set of ambitions this season.

And what is clear is that he is back in his stride – and capable of bringing many more goals to Newcastle.

A big deal for Hall

Guimaraes, Tonali and Gordon, clearly, saw their futures as lying elsewhere after the final ball was kicked last season.

Lewis Hall, though, sees a long-term future for himself at St James’ Park.

The 22-year-old has signed a new deal at the club amid interest from Manchester United. The contract will invariably not stop speculation in future transfer windows, but the show of commitment from the boyhood United fan is welcome.

“I obviously have a family connection with the club, which is incredibly important to us all,” said Hall. “One of the main reasons I play is to make my family proud, and I know how much it means to them to watch me playing for Newcastle United.”

Hall, a dynamic, attack-minded left-back, is perfect for Jaissle’s new-look Newcastle team.

And United fans love watching him play too.

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Like a new signing.

I used to wince, as a Newcastle United reporter, when I interviewed a manager and he said those words.

As I knew the reaction from fans when that phrase would be reported during the Mike Ashley era at St James’ Park.

Alan Pardew said those words a few times about players coming back from injury – or back into form – during his time as manager.

And he got hammered online.

Fans, in the parsimonious Ashley years, wanted new signings, not old ones.

I was reminded of those interviews after seeing Yoane Wissa look like a new player in Sunday’s 2-2 draw against Liverpool a year after joining the club from Brentford in a deal worth an initial £50million.

Last season did not exactly go to plan for Wissa – or his team.

The striker never got into his stride after suffering an early-season knee injury.

Wissa only made four league starts, and Newcastle struggled without Alexander Isak, the player he had been signed to replace.

Yet I thought it was too early to write Wissa off as a United player, even though his first season was clearly a write-off.

When a club signs a new player, there are no guarantees when, or if, he will start delivering on the pitch.

It can be straight away, six months or a year in the future – or never. That is football.

Wissa, the club’s No. 9, delivered against Liverpool – as a No. 10, a position Eddie Howe did not favour during his hugely-successful time as head coach.

Playing behind William Osula, the 29-year-old looked sharp after starring at the World Cup with DR Congo. He linked defence and attack, and drove the team up the pitch.

By contrast, Isak, booed by home fans, was quiet

Wissa created United’s second goal, scored by Joe Willock, on the day both sets of fans remembered the late, great Kevin Keegan, one of the most consequential figures in Newcastle’s long history.

Named man of the match by Sky Sports, Wissa revealed that it was the first time he had ever received the award.

Asked about his performance, he said: “It’s the best [performance] so far.

“I hope I showed I’m very happy here.”

United fans, certainly, were happy with what they saw from him.

Wissa, applauded off the pitch before Liverpool’s late equaliser, added that he is ready to be one of new head coach Mathias Jaissle’s leaders this season.

Jaissle, certainly, needs leadership and experience, with the club having lost captain Bruno Guimares, along with Kieran Trippier, Sandro Tonali and Anthony Gordon this summer.

The biggest challenge for him is to be competitive with a more youthful and inexperienced squad.

Under Howe, Newcastle fans got used to seeing their team compete week after week.

They went to grounds like Stamford Bridge and Old Trafford, places where victories had always been hard to come by in the Premier League era, and won – and it was not a surprise.

His teams were as competitive as any I had watched in more than two decades reporting on the club, and that is why fans found last season’s Premier League shortcomings were so hard to take.

The pleasing thing for Jaissle was that United were competitive on day one.

“I’m enjoying it already,” he told BBC Match of the Day. “I saw the young lads fighting for everything.

“There was commitment. A good synergy with the fans. This is special, it’s going to be a really cool season with big challenges, as well. We’re realistic, but we’ll go there.”

Jaissle wants more genuine new signings between now and the transfer deadline.

If the club, in a period of transition, can deliver them, this team could confound some of the more pessimistic pre-season expectations and challenge higher up the table.

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From day one, Eddie Howe spoke with clarity.

He had inherited a mess at Newcastle United, things had unravelled alarmingly before his arrival in November 2021, but after sitting through his first press conference, I was convinced the winless team, 19th in the Premier League table, had a chance of staying up.

Howe fielded question after question about the club’s predicament – and cut through everything.

If he had instilled belief in the press room, I thought as I left St James’ Park that day, then surely he could do that in the dressing room.

Muddled thinking and ideas were out. Howe gave the team a clear identity, something it had badly needed, founded on his “non-negotiables”. He had a vision for his team, and the drive and determination needed to make it a reality.

Howe’s Newcastle played with a fierce intensity, pressing high up the pitch. Even on a bad day, they were competitive and hard to beat.

The turnaround on the pitch was extraordinary. Howe worked well with co-owners Amanda Staveley and Mehrdad Ghodoussi as the club also made strides off the field following that season’s takeover.

What followed the team’s great escape in 2021/22 was unforgettable – a first domestic trophy, the Carabao Cup, in 70 years and two Champions League qualifications.

Last season’s Premier League campaign, however, was forgettable, though there were mitigating factors. A lack of investment in the squad due to European and domestic spending restrictions had left Howe with a squad ill-equipped to compete on four fronts, and a run to the last 16 of the Champions League took its toll.

An injury to Bruno Guimaraes, a player the team had always struggled to win without, came at a particularly bad time.

Newcastle held Barcelona at home without Guimaraes – they were only denied a victory by Lamine Yamal penalty six minutes into added time – but it was a different story in the away leg, and that 7-2 loss was an unfortunate way to end what had been an impressive campaign in the competition.

The home defeat to Sunderland which followed was even more damaging for Howe, who, for the first time as United head coach, found himself under real pressure from supporters.

There were calls for him to go from some angry fans after the derby loss, but many also wanted Howe to stay, which he did.

But early in pre-season Howe – who had lost Alexander Isak last summer – was facing up to the prospect of losing Guimaraes, his captain, this summer after the sales of Anthony Gordon and Sandro Tonali to Barcelona and Tottenham Hotspur respectively.

Without them, would the team have the same identity? Could it play with the same intensity?

The team he had painstakingly built was always going to need a rebuild or reset of sorts this summer, but I wrote earlier this month following the sale of Tonali to Tottenham that the scale of renewal needed was “eye-opening”.

Back in the summer of 2009, I reported on a 6-1 pre-season defeat to Leyton Orient, and I knew as I waited on the cinder track to interview players that the defeat would lead to change.

As it was, the dressing room inquest led to a necessary squad clearout - and a reborn United, managed by Chris Hughton, won promotion back to the Premier League at the first attempt.

Watching this week’s 4-1 loss to Bristol City, I thought back to that afternoon at Brisbane Road.

Howe and his staff had brought clarity to the job, but it was clear that something had to give after that performance and result at Ashton Gate.

It is sad to see Howe, one of the club’s most successful and likeable managers, leave his post.

I dealt with 14 managers, excluding caretakers, as a reporter covering the club for regional newspapers, and Howe was the most successful during my time on the beat.

He was not one of the most quotable managers - greats Sir Bobby Robson and Kevin Keegan were brilliant at one-liners - but one thing he said really resonated on Tyneside.

I remember quickly tweeting one sentence from a presser at the club’s training ground in January 2023.

In response to a question about Mikel Arteta and Arsenal’s complaints after a goalless draw at the Emirates Stadium, where I had reported on many Newcastle defeats, Howe said: “We’re not here to be popular… we’re here to compete.”

And that’s the thing. Under Howe, United routinely went to grounds where they had previously been routinely (and often heavily) beaten in the Premier League era, and were competitive.

The interview I will remember most, though, happened in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, during a break for the World Cup in Qatar in December 2022.

Howe spoke to the small group of reporters out there in the lobby of the team’s hotel, part of the iconic Kingdom Centre. Relaxed, he opened up as players milled around the reception area, even revealing what one of his sons wanted for Christmas.

“My wife has just sent me a letter from my eight-year-old,” said Howe. “I’ll read you a bit.

“You’ll be pleased to hear some of this: a Fitbit, AirPods, Newcastle away kit (green and white), PSG home kit, three walkie talkies – he’s got two brothers – Newcastle home shorts and socks, Newcastle away (blue and yellow), Match Attax, footballs, chocolate, Where’s Wally book.”

Howe’s boys, like their dad, genuinely got the club.

And, in his final message, Howe also spoke with clarity.

In a statement issued by the club. he said: “After a period of personal reflection, I have decided that now is the right time for me to step away from my role as head coach of Newcastle United.

“After nearly five years of giving my life, heart and soul into the club with unrelenting energy, I feel that it is in the best interests of both myself and the club to step away, recharge and take a break.

“Although it’s been incredibly difficult to make this decision, I know in my heart that it’s the right one. I have always put the best interests of Newcastle before my own in every single decision I have made whilst I’ve been here and this one is no different.

“It has been the privilege of my lifetime to have been the manager of Newcastle United.”

Howe, for his part, has given fans memories that will last a lifetime.

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A couple of years ago, Sandro Tonali made a vow to Newcastle United at a Tokyo wedding venue.

Tonali, serving the last part of his 10-month ban for breaching betting rules, was on stage along with three team-mates at a fan engagement event in Shinjuku during the club’s pre-season tour of Japan.

The midfielder had missed much of his first season on Tyneside because of the suspension, and there was a hush in the room when Tonali, in the spotlight after so long in the shadows, was handed the microphone.

Tonali made it clear that the 2024/25 season was a fresh start for him. He pledged to give his all that season, and the room erupted when the Italy international, signed from AC Milan in the summer of 2023, finished speaking.

And Tonali, backed by the club’s supporters after his long absence, made the most of that fresh start over the following months.

Tonali quickly hit the ground running in midfield alongside Bruno Guimaraes and Joelinton. He covered an incredible amount of ground that season, and was a big influence with and without the ball.

And Tonali’s name was chanted up and down the country by Newcastle fans during what would turn out to be a historic season.

The “Sandro, ole, ole, ole” chant seemingly lasted from Kings Cross to Wembley Park on the Tube I took to the Carabao Cup final. It never stopped, and nor did Tonali on the field that day.

Tonali played a big part in that success, and bigger things were expected from him and that team.

Yet, a little over a year later, Tonali is gone. So too is Anthony Gordon, another member of the club’s Carabao Cup-winning squad. The winger joined Barcelona before heading to the World Cup with England.

Gordon showed what Newcastle, a club that needs to trade due to European and domestic financial fair play regulations, will be missing at the tournament, setting up three goals and scoring another in the semi-final defeat to defending champions Argentina.

I spoke to then-chief executive officer Darren Eales about Tonali at another fan event at a rooftop bar in Tokyo two years ago for the Daily Mail.

“He just spoke from the heart,” said Eales. “You got a sense of what Sandro Tonali is as a player.”

But Tonali had his heart set on a move this summer after a disappointing campaign for him – and the club – last season, the 26-year-old joining Tottenham Hotspur in a deal which reportedly could be worth up to £100million.

For many fans, Gordon’s desire to join Barcelona was easier to understand than Tonali’s keenness for a move to Tottenham given the north London club’s recent struggles in the Premier League.

“It was like magic, because I knew immediately that I had to sign for Tottenham,” he said.

So Newcastle have lost a midfield magician – and the club must replace him.

United – who signed Ivory Coast winger Bazoumana Toure from Hoffenheim following Gordon’s departure – have a lot to do this summer. They have also lost the experience and influence of Kieran Trippier, who left following the expiry of his contract.

Against this background, can Newcastle afford to lose captain Bruno Guimaraes? The Brazil international has been the heartbeat of the team, and seemingly the glue that has stuck everything together, in recent seasons.

Guimaraes reportedly wants to join Arsenal, the Premier League champions, but losing him is unthinkable, such has been his influence on the field since he joined amid a relegation battle in January 2022.

In Tokyo, Eales also talked about the need to strengthen the squad every window, but the losses of Tonali, Gordon and Trippier have weakened it – for now.

Newcastle’s squad was in danger of going “stale” last year, according head coach Eddie Howe, but the scale of the renewal now needed this summer is eye-opening.

And fans can only hope that Guimaraes is part of a fresh, new United this coming season.

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Questions about the senior England team were off the table a little over a year ago when I sat down with Elliot Anderson.

I was at Nottingham Forest’s training ground to interview Anderson, a player I had watched come up through the ranks at Newcastle United as a reporter covering the club.

Anderson had left St James’ Park the summer of 2024, the club having been forced to sell him, along with Yankuba Minteh, to comply with the Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability Rules.

The move was right for the club in financial terms as it had to stay within the rules, but it was very wrong in a footballing sense.

And that was underlined in the months following his switch to the City Ground.

Anderson got the first-team starts he needed – and thrived.

By the time I sat down with Anderson, he was being tipped for a senior England call-up, such had been his impact at Forest.

I was interviewing him for FourFourTwo, who had named him as one of the top 50 Premier League players in the 2024/25 season.

Anderson, then an England Under-21 international, happily spoke about his “fresh start” at Forest – the team was flying at the time under then-head coach Nuno Espirito Santo – but there were to be no questions about a call-up to Thomas Tuchel’s squad, as he was focused on the Premier League run-in.

But an elevation from the England Under-21 squad was not long in coming, and Anderson quickly established himself at senior level after being called up for the first time last August.

And today, the Whitley Bay-born player – who I first watched play in front of a few hundred fans at Whitley Park – is starring on the biggest stage of all, the World Cup finals.

From a young age, it was clear that he was a special talent. Almost six ago, I interviewed his first coach at Wallsend Boys Club, and what he said about very young Anderson still resonates.

Anderson’s rise also reminded me of an interview from my time at university.

I spoke to legendary scout Jack Hixon – who discovered Alan Shearer – when I was a writing for a student newspaper.

Hixon said Shearer had the ability to play in any position, such was his talent, and the same can be said about Anderson, who played in a number of attacking roles for Newcastle.

At Forest, he is a No. 8, the position he played coming up through the ranks on Tyneside. The move to the City Ground helped him get to grips with what he called the “dirty side” of the game.

Tuchel also uses him in that deeper role, but his vision, and range of passing, also means he’s an attacking threat for club and country.

Anderson’s family, the coaches who have worked with him up to now, deserve credit for nurturing an exceptional talent.

Unquestionably, the move to Forest quickened his development, as he had the likes of Sandro Tonali, Bruno Guimaraes and Joelinton ahead of him at St James’ Park. He needed to start week in, week out, not come off the bench.

The move was probably the best thing for Anderson, as hard it was for him to leave his boyhood club and for fans to come to terms with the loss of one of the brightest talents to have emerged from the youth ranks in a generation.

It is no surprise that Manchester City have come calling, with the club having reportedly agreed a deal worth more than £116million for the 23-year-old.

Anderson, though, will be hoping to delay his arrival there for as long as possible – as he and his England team-mates have the world at their feet on the other side of the Atlantic.

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Newcastle United have made some big signings in the Premier League era.

But the club did not sign a genuinely world-class player during Mike Ashley’s time as owner.

Before then, there had been Michael Owen. And, before him, Alan Shearer, who would go on to repay every penny, and more, of his then-world record £15million transfer fee in goals.

Owen was a big name who was signed for big money in 2005, but the club did not get a big return on its investment in the striker^.

Then came Ashley, and it would be almost 17 years before another England international signed for the club.

And that signing, a world-class player like Shearer and Owen, would prove to be hugely significant – on and off the pitch.

He would be a class act in a black and white shirt.

Kieran Trippier joined from Atletico Madrid in January 2022 when the club, under new ownership and management, was 19th in the Premier League.

Trippier swapped Champions League football under Diego Simeone for a team which was trying to stay out of the Championship. To the wider football world, it looked like a strange move.

He was the first signing to buy into the “project”, it was not money that persuaded him to return to England.

Trippier said all the right things in his first press conference, a video call.

“People say it’s about money? They’re entitled to their opinion,” he said. “I wanted a project and a challenge. I’m brave, I don’t see this as a risk. I’ve got my reasons, I know them, and money isn’t one of them. I’m excited.”

Trippier, the signing who started it all, would go on to do all the right things on the pitch.

And his career at Newcastle will end on Sunday after the club’s final game of the season against Fulham, with his contract expiring this summer.

Wor Flags paid tribute to Trippier’s career before last weekend’s home game against West Ham United, which Eddie Howe’s side won 3-1. Trippier addressed supporters before the game along with Emil Krafth, also leaving the club this summer.

Fans held up banners which read: “Forever a Newcastle United legend. Thank you for the memories.”

“Legend” is an overused word in football, but Trippier falls into that bracket.

He made an big impact on the field, and in the dressing room, after joining, helping the club escape relegation before it pushed on and qualified for the Champions League the following season.

One of the best right-backs in the world at the time, he let his feet do the talking after that low-key video call. Talented and tenacious on the field, and a leader off the pitch, Trippier was exactly what the club needed at the time.

He memorably scored a match-winning free-kick against Aston Villa weeks after joining before suffering an injury in the same game.

Yet he was still an influence on the team while injured, travelling to away games as a non-playing member of the squad.

He was there at Carrow Road when Newcastle beat Norwich City 3-0 to move up to ninth when we got another glimpse of the potential of the team Howe was rebuilding with the backing of the club’s new owners.

For years, I travelled to away games with Fairs Cup-winning captain Bob Moncur when he was working as a radio summariser.

I loved hearing stories from his playing career, and those journeys up and down the club seemed to fly by as he recalled anecdotes from his career at St James’ Park.

Moncur, for more than half a century, had the tag as the last United captain to lift a major piece of silverware, something I interviewed him about a few times when the club came close to winning silverware.

Trippier has worn the captain’s armband many times, and it was fitting that he lifted the Carabao Cup with former and current skippers Jamaal Lascelles and Bruno Guimaraes at Wembley last year.

After all, he has had a huge hand in what has happened over the past few years.

Trippier was not one of the biggest signings in the club’s history, but, arguably, he was one of the most important.

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It is almost 10 years to the day since the last Tyne-Wear derby at St James’ Park.

Newcastle United were in trouble the last time they faced Sunderland on home turf, with the season having unravelled steadily following the appointment of Steve McClaren in June 2015.

I was in the USA to cover the club’s pre-season tour in that summer, and there was a sense of optimism in the camp, and back home, at the time following some much-needed squad investment.

In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, ahead of a game against Mexican side Club Atlas at Miller Park, the home of the city’s Major League Baseball team, one local newspaper referred to the city’s English visitors as one of the Premier League’s “most-storied” teams.

I know it is an Americanism, but that phrase has stuck with me. Certainly, those who report on the club are rarely short of a story.

A couple of weeks after the game in Milwaukee, which had ended in a 2-1 defeat, a friendly away to York City at their old Bootham Crescent ground hinted at what would follow in the season proper.

United again lost 2-1, and the team looked like it would struggle to score more goals away than it would concede at the other end of the pitch.

What happened the last time Sunderland visited St James’ Park

Fast forward to the visit of Sunderland on March 20, 2016, and the team was under new management, with McClaren having parted company with the club following a 3-1 home defeat to Eddie Howe’s Bournemouth which I described at the time as “shambolic”.

The team was 19th in the league, and running out of games. It did not look like it was too good to go down, despite the talent in the squad inherited by Rafa Benitez, McClaren’s successor.

Newcastle desperately needed a win, but they had to settle for a point from a 1-1 draw.

What I remember most from the match is not Aleksandar Mitrovic’s 83rd-minute equaliser – he cancelled out a first-half strike from Jermain Defoe with a with a towering back-post header set up by fellow summer signing Georginio Wijnaldum – but what happened in the minutes after the restart.

Mitrovic – who had been a boyhood United fan growing up in Serbia – suffered a head injury going for another ball into the box in the dying minutes, but was desperate to get back on the field.

Benitez could not make a substitution, as he had already made three changes, and concussion protocols meant that he could not return to the pitch. Mitrovic had to be physically restrained as he attempted to get back on the field.

So United had to see out a nerve-shredding game with just 10 men, no easy task. It was a fraught end to a fraught game.

But they did, and Mitrovic later apologised to the club’s doctor, Paul Catterson, for his actions.

Those emotional moments on the touchline underlined what was at stake that afternoon, and how much the game, and the result, mattered to a club which would ultimately be relegated for the second time under Mike Ashley’s ownership. Sunderland finished one place above them, and stayed up.

Mitrovic always had plenty of fight in him, and Newcastle will need to press high and contest everything on Sunday against a strong and capable visiting team has already exceeded expectations following its promotion last season.

Cool heads, though, will also be needed in the heat of the derby. Brains and brawn are needed.

This could be the best, or the worst, game for a team reeling from a 7-2 midweek Champions League defeat (8-3 on aggregate) to Barcelona. The scoreline over the two legs, of course, did not reflect the balance of play over the 120 minutes, but the team cannot dwell on that.

“The positives of this game for us can be huge, for the fans, for the city,” said Howe, United’s head coach, in his pre-match press conference.

A decade on from the last Tyne-Wear derby, there is not any relegation jeopardy for either club, but this game is still hugely-important for both teams and fanbases. United are out of the Champions League and the domestic cups, and ninth in the table, but there is still a lot to play for this season.

Newcastle have not beaten Sunderland at home since a 5-1 win in October 2010, though that statistic is skewed by the visitor’s eight-year spell out of the Premier League following their own relegation at the end of the 2016/17 season.

What is clear is that this game will have a major bearing on the narrative around this most storied of clubs between now and the end of the season.

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Twelve months ago, things were a little different for one Newcastle United player.

Eddie Howe’s squad was preparing for the Carabao Cup final, but this member of the playing staff was preparing for surgery, having suffered a season-ending injury.

The player, of course, was Lewis Hall.

Hall was not even able to attend the final at Wembley, as he had had foot surgery the day before. He had to watch what would turn out to be a historic game on TV like so many Newcastle fans.

That was tough on the left-back, who had got into his stride, and played his part in the club’s run to the final, in his second season after initially finding starts hard to come by after joining from Chelsea, at first on loan, in 2023.

Success in football is not represented on a chart by a straight, upward line, it is often jagged, going up and down, and Hall has had to overcome challenges to get to where he is today.

And, the thing is, he can get even better.

Hall was competing with Dan Burn, like him a boyhood Newcastle, for a place at left-back when he joined the club. Hall, though, grew up in Berkshire, not Blyth, his allegiance to the club coming from his rugby-playing dad’s side of the family.

He and his elder brother Connor – who also became a professional footballer – used to wear black and white tops for their garden kickabouts.

Wearing a protective boot and using crutches, Hall was able to watch his sibling play for Brackley Town at South Shields late last season. Playing Champions League football would have seemed a long way off for Hall as he struggled up the stairs to his seat for the National League North game.

Hall, though, was back up and running last summer, and this season the Hall family have been back at St James’ Park to watch fit-again Lewis, presumably one of the first names on the team sheet given his form.

It is easy to forget that Hall is only 21 years of age, such is his influence on the pitch. He’s been football’s archetypal “Mr Consistent” this season, with and without the ball.

Hall started his career as a midfielder, and that football education in a different position has served him well. The Slough-born player has a dynamism and drive in possession, and he’s adept at getting out of tight spots, as explained by Connor.

“He’s a technical player, and I’m a bit rough round the edges,” he told The Sun last year. “Whenever he gets the ball in tight areas, I’m like ‘oh!’, but he always seems to get out of it.”

Newcastle fans have been lauding Hall – who made his senior England debut last season – for some time, but it is not only the club’s fanbase who are talking about him now.

Hall’s performance in Tuesday night’s 1-1 draw against Barcelona at St James’ Park has got him a lot more attention, not least because he kept Lamine Yamal, runner-up to Ousmane Dembele in the 2025 Ballon d’Or, quiet for 90 minutes.

Hall, quiet and unassuming off the pitch, lets his feet do his talking on the field, and, time again, he got the better of Yamal, who made little impact in open play.

Unfortunately for Howe’s side, Yamal was able to claim a draw with a late, late penalty won by Dani Olmo.

Hall posted a photograph on Instagram after the game with the caption: "A performance to be proud of last night. Still all to play for".

Captain Bruno Guimaraes, sidelined with an injury replied: “Best in the world.”

When Newcastle signed Kieran Trippier, also in the starting XI against Barcelona, the right-back was arguably in the world-class bracket, and there cannot be many better left-backs in the game than Hall.

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Some games live long in the collective memory. Others less so.

So four days after a forgettable defeat at St James’ Park, Newcastle United fans were given a night to remember at the stadium.

I have watched, and reported on, some big home wins against Manchester United over the years.

The biggest of all, of course, was the 5-0 win in the 1996/97 season, best remembered for THAT Philippe Albert chip over Peter Schmeichel.

Back in the mid-1990s, when Kevin Keegan’s side challenged for the title, this game was one of the biggest on the club’s fixture list, and it still has an edge to it.

That era is still remembered today. Both sets of fans chanted about Alan Shearer’s decision to turn down a move to Old Trafford – 30 years after he joined his boyhood club in a world-record deal.

The 3-0 win early in Sir Bobby Robson’s tenure as manager in which Shearer and Duncan Ferguson ran riot, and Roy Keane was dismissed for taking a swing at Newcastle’s No.9, also comes to mind.

Newcastle had beaten Man United on their three previous visits to Tyneside, but supporters would have been forgiven for heading to the ground more in trepidation than expectation following the weekend’s home defeat to Everton.

Yet this fixture can bring out the best in the team – and Eddie Howe’s side, like Keane all those years ago, came out swinging.

Fans saw another classic on Wednesday night against a team which had been unbeaten in the Premier League under Michael Carrick, a boyhood Magpie who we never got to see wear black and white.

Without a number of players, including captain Bruno Guimaraes, Howe’s side dominated much of the game, despite playing with 10 men for 45 minutes following Jacob Ramsey’s harsh dismissal for a second yellow card, shown for simulation after he went down in the box. Replays showed contact from goalkeeper Senne Lammens.

This performance, unlike the one against Everton, was what this team has been about under Howe.

They recovered after Anthony Gordon’s 45th-minute penalty was cancelled out deep in added time at the end of the first half by Casemiro.

Necessarily compact after the break, they needed pace on the break, and that came from William Osula, who came close to joining Eintracht Frankfurt last summer.

Osula started and finished a stunning late move to claim a hugely-hugely important win. Osula laid the ball back to Kieran Trippier in his own half before running more than half the length of the pitch to score with a curling left-footed shot.

Miles Starforth's Newcastle Notes

They say never meet your heroes, but I was very fortunate to meet Kevin Keegan

They say never meet your heroes…

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9 months ago · 6 likes · 2 comments · Miles Starforth

It was a goal out of nothing, and the 2-1 victory meant everything to a team which had not won a Premier League home game since January 7.

Osula might not be the answer to all the questions that have been asked about the club’s resources up front following last summer’s sale of Alexander Isak, but he can be part of the solution between now and the end of the season.

Certainly, he made his match-winning contribution look easy, but the team had had to do it the hard way over 90-odd minutes.

The club, still in three competitions, has started off the toughest of months on the front foot – just Manchester City, Barcelona (twice), Chelsea and Sunderland to come now.

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They say never meet your heroes.

But that statement does not apply to Kevin Keegan, a hero I was very fortunate to meet.

Newcastle United published a statement from Keegan’s family before last night’s game against Leeds United revealing that the 74-year-old had been diagnosed with cancer.

The pre-match news stunned St James’ Park, the stadium with which Keegan will always be most associated with given his playing spell and two managerial stints at the club.

Both sets of fans applauded in support of Keegan, arguably one of the most important figures in Newcastle’s long history.

I got to know Keegan a little during his second managerial stint, as I was reporting on the club for the Shields Gazette.

Older colleagues who had reported on his first spell as manager said that he had changed, and that some of his spark had gone. Yet Keegan could still light up a press conference with a turn of phrase. Those moments left an indelible impression on me.

So Keegan’s infectious energy and effervescence still bubbled away, and I can only imagine what he was like when he spoke to players in the dressing room, especially during his first stint when he took the club from the brink of the old Third Division to the top of the Premiership, as it was then known.

Even then, during his challenging second spell as manager, he was box office, though, maybe wisely, he kept his counsel at times as his relationship with owner Mike Ashley and the club’s hierarchy became increasingly strained.

The journalists who covered the club at the time were invited to Newcastle International Airport to see Keegan after an airline named an aircraft after the former England international.

United had just signed a player, but Keegan would not say a word about the new recruit. His awkward silence spoke volumes about the disconnect between him and the club’s recruitment which would ultimately lead to his departure.

Keegan, years later, documented the off-field events which would end what had been described as his “third coming” in a book, My Life in Football, written by Daniel Taylor.

The name of the chapter on his second return to St James’ Park said it all: “My big mistake.”

Keegan’s efforts as player and manager at the club, though, will never be forgotten.

We’re all with you, King Kev.

Then came the game, and, fittingly, it was a 4-3 Premier League classic.

Eddie Howe’s side came from behind three times to beat Leeds thanks to a goal from Harvey Barnes 12 minutes into added time.

A lot has been said about Newcastle’s shortcomings this season, especially away from home, but the character and commitment we saw at St James’ Park last night could yet take the team a long way.

When I got home from the match, I was reminded by a social media app that I had shared the back page of the Gazette exactly three years earlier.

The headline – “We’re here to compete” – was based on a quote from a post-match press conference after a goalless draw away to Arsenal.

"We’re not here to be popular, and to get other teams to like us,” said Howe.

“We’re here to compete and, to compete, we have to give everything to try and get a positive result. I’ve got no issue saying that. That’s our job – and that’s what we’re going to try and continue to do.”

Howe’s team, it is clear, is still here to compete.

And Keegan, if he was watching last night, would have just loved it.

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So Newcastle United, finally, have a No.9 leading the line.

Yoane Wissa scored with his first shot on his full debut last night as the defending champions booked a place in the last four of the Carabao Cup with a 2-1 win over Fulham.

It was a proper striker’s goal, an instinctive finish from a player in the right place, at the right time.

Newcastle needed a win after an inexplicably bad derby performance against Sunderland at the Stadium of Light on Sunday, and they got one.

Fittingly, local hero Lewis Miley, fielded out of position at right-back amid a number of injuries, scored a late winner to lift the mood on Tyneside after a gloomy few days.

But Wissa’s first-half goal was just as significant.

Head coach Eddie Howe said: “A really positive night for him, in lots of ways. He took his goal really well, and he’ll only get better for the minutes.”

It was the first strike by a United No.9 since February 8, when Callum Wilson, the last player to wear the jersey, scored against Birmingham City in an FA Cup tie.

However, we have not had a Premier League goal by a Newcastle player wearing the iconic shirt since Wilson scored 594 days ago against Burnley at Turf Moor on May 4, 2024.

That is too long.

The No.9 jersey was a good fit for Wilson, who would have scored a lot more goals had it not been for a series of injuries.

Hopefully, £55million-signing Wissa, left out of DR Congo’s Africa Cup of Nations squad, will also wear it well.

Wissa – who was sidelined with a knee injury soon after joining the club from Brentford in the summer – should give United some of what they have been missing this season.

Nick Woltemade, comfortable dropping deep, has done well since his own summer move to St James’ Park, but Wissa should give Newcastle, still adjusting to the loss of Alexander Isak, another dimension as he gets in behind opposition defences.

United were not at their best against Fulham, but they dominated the quarter-final tie, and deserved to go through to the semi-finals.

“The will and drive to win was there,” said Howe. “We gave everything, even in the difficult moments.”

Wissa’s drive in the final third of the pitch will be hugely important over the coming weeks and months.

Howe’s side were drawn against Manchester City in the semi-finals.

In the meantime, Newcastle have work to do in the league. The club is 12th in the table, and six points adrift of the Champions League places.

Chelsea are next up at St James’ Park, and a first home league goal from a No.9 since April last year would be very welcome as the club looks to make up ground in the division after a challenging few months.

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Most of us have seen social media posts ranking football derbies. Designed for engagement, they invariably get plenty of comments, likes and dislikes.

The Tyne-Wear derby is almost always put in one of the top tiers of these rage-bait graphics.

And that will not surprise anyone on either side of the divide.

The fiercely-contested fixture finally returns to the league calendar today after an absence of more than nine years.

And any fan of either club who is not even mildly nervous or apprehensive has probably not experienced a derby first-hand, as they are angst-filled and nerve-shredding occasions for everyone given what is at stake.

There is just too much at stake to be relaxed ahead of them, though the stakes are high for Newcastle, competing to progress in the Champions League and Carabao Cup, on other fronts too.

A different challenge at the Stadium of Light

The fact that the two clubs have not met in the league for so long only adds to the sense of anticipation on Tyneside and Wearside.

Newcastle beat Sunderland 3-0 in an FA Cup tie at the Stadium of Light two seasons ago.

But much has changed since then.

I watched twice at Sunderland at the Stadium of Light last month when I covered two fixtures for The Guardian, including a 2-2 draw against Premier League leaders Arsenal.

“The gap between the Championship and Premier League was evident in that cup tie, but Sunderland, whose fans can use the new £31million Keel Crossing to cross the Wear for games, have bridged the gap this season thanks to [Regis] Le Bris’ management and a strong summer in the transfer market.”

As I wrote at the time, what struck me was just how hard Regis Le Bris’ side were to play against. They pressed high, were physical, and attacked with pace and purpose. The way they unsettled Arsenal on home turf, and got in their faces, reminded me of Eddie Howe’s Newcastle in some ways.

So the Sunderland team that will play Newcastle will be very different to the one which faced the club in the cup.

Speaking on Friday, Howe said that he and his staff would do everything they could to make any new players aware of the fixture’s importance before kick-off time, but there is only so much they can do and say.

“There’ll be some new players that maybe don’t understand it as well as others,” said United’s head coach.

“So we’ll use whatever methods we can in the next few days to make sure that everyone enters the pitch fully aware of the importance.”

All of the club’s players players, by now, should be aware of what the game means to the fans, even if broader progress at home and abroad this season is more important than any one fixture.

This game, whatever the result, will not define the club’s campaign.

The ferocity and intensity of the game may surprise some players, and Howe will have to choose his team carefully. Newcastle are a strong, physical team, but so too are their opposition, who are unbeaten in their last nine league fixtures against their great rivals.

This is a fixture during which crunching tackles will be cheered as loudly as defence-splitting passes, though cool heads will be needed amid the heat of occasion.

Aleksandar Mitrovic’s knockout blow

The two teams drew 1-1 the last time they met in the Premier League in March 20, 2016.

What I remember most about that game at St James’ Park is Aleksandar Mitrovic – who had been knocked out minutes after scoring an equaliser – having to be physically restrained by Paul Catterson, the club’s doctor, when he attempted to return to the field for the last few minutes.

Despite having been out cold, he still wanted to help his team land a knockout blow.

The striker had to stay off because of concussion protocols, but he did not know this at the time as he argued on the touchline.

Howe’s players will need to play with their heads as well as their hearts, but this is not a fixture for the faint-hearted.

Sunderland, unbeaten at home and 10th in the league, have a habit of coming from behind, while 12th-placed Newcastle have repeatedly conceded late goals this season, most recently away to Bayer Leverkusen on Wednesday night.

This derby, which comes after the sad passing of former Sunderland midfielder Gary Rowell aged 68, looks to be finely balanced, and it could be decided by the finest of margins.

Of course, the rivalry between Newcastle and Sunderland predates football. It goes back to the 17th century and the English Civil War when the cities were on either side of the conflict between Royalists and Parliamentarians.

It is an age-old rivalry.

Sunderland were out of the Premier League for eight seasons, but the rivalry has simmered away during that time. It will come to the boil at 2pm today.

And given the history, and passionate support on both sides of the divide, this fixture belongs at the top of the top tier.

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Newcastle United fans have started arriving in Marseilles.

It’s a beautiful, vibrant Mediterranean city, but travelling supporters have been “strongly advised” by French police not to visit the Vieux Port during their stays.

From the marina, you can see the stunning Notre-Dame de la Garde, the basilica which towers above the city.

But Newcastle fans, if they heed police warnings, will not see the view.

Visiting supporters have also been told not to wear colours, or congregate in large groups, this evening – or all day tomorrow.

I have some experience of Marseilles.

Back in 1998, I got a ticket to see England play Tunisia in what was their first World Cup group fixture for eight years at the Stade Velodrome, the home of Olympique Marseille.

I was a newly-qualified news reporter with the Evening Chronicle at the time, but I travelled as a fan. However, I would have a story to tell once I had left the city.

A friend and myself, staying outside the city in Aix-en-Provence, headed for the Vieux Port the day before the game.

Everything was fine – until it was not.

England fans were happily drinking in the sun through the day, but it was clear some locals and Tunisian supporters were paying close attention to them.

And, later in the afternoon, they were provoked. Glasses and beer cans were tossed towards the England supporters, and the place erupted. Everything boiled over on a sweltering day in the city.

We decided to head back to the train station at that point, but it was too late. The police – who had been on standby – quickly got involved. It was chaotic.

One exit off the Vieux Port was blocked by CRS, the French riot police, but we escaped the tear gas via down a side road. Unfortunately for us, the CRS were not just after the hooligans causing mayhem behind us. We both got whacked with batons as we tried to get away from it all down a narrow street.

At least 32 people were injured during seven hours of violence that day, according to the BBC.

So that was my story. We got away before things got worse, but it was still a bruising experience.

I did not see any serious trouble on the day of the game, which was decided 2-0 in England’s favour by goals from Alan Shearer and Paul Scholes, but the sound of police sirens across the city was never-ending.

One thing I remember is that because I had heard so many sirens during my brief stay in Marseille, that distinctive sound was still ringing in my head that night in my sleeper train cabin.

I dictated a story, a first-hand account of the trouble, to the Chronicle’s copytakers on what had been described back home as a “riot” when I changed trains at Lille the following morning.

Also, I remember gingerly walking back into the Chronicle newsroom later that week with a black eye – and getting a round of applause from my colleagues.

It was one way to make an impression as a trainee reporter.

Six years later I returned as a football writer when Newcastle played Marseille in a UEFA Cup semi-final.

Thankfully, I did not see any flashpoints in the city, or around the stadium, though Marseille’s ultras managed to start a fire through their use of flares in the end closest to travelling fans.

Chelsea-bound Didier Drogba was the difference over the two legs, his two goals at the Stade Velodrome giving Marseille a 2-0 aggregate win following a goalless draw at St James’ Park.

That tough defeat felt like the beginning of the end for then-manager Sir Bobby Robson, and so, sadly, it would prove a few months later.

This season, though, it feels like the just the start of something in Europe for a team, buoyed by Saturday’s win over Manchester City, which is sixth in the Champions League table, and level on points with champions Paris Saint-Germain.

Hopefully, United fans will get to see another positive result – and safely enjoy their visit to the city.

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It will not be long before Newcastle United are on the road again,

Much has been said and written about the club’s away form this season.

Eddie Howe’s team, yet to win on their travels in the Premier League, suffered a 3-1 loss to Brentford before the international break a week after losing to West Ham United in the capital by the same scoreline.

Newcastle, normally so hard to play against, were beaten too easily for the liking of Howe and the club’s fanbase.

After losing to Brentford, United’s head coach said: “We haven’t done our jobs, and we feel we’ve let everybody down.”

However, some of the toughest trips are yet to come. The club has not yet played Arsenal, Manchester City or Chelsea, the division’s top three as it stands, away from home.

Nor have they travelled to the team which is fourth in the division – Sunderland.

Earlier this month, I reported on two games at the Stadium of Light for The Guardian.

And what struck me during the second fixture, a 2-2 draw against Arsenal which ended the Premier League leaders’ 10-game winning run in all competitions, was just how hard Regis Le Bris’ team is to play against.

Sunderland did to Arsenal what Newcastle have previously done to Mikel Arteta’s side at St James’ Park. They were physical, and pressed them high. They unsettled them, and attacked with pace and purpose.

The club’s slogan since the play-offs has been “Til The End”, and they claimed a point thanks to an injury-time goal from Brian Brobbey.

Newcastle, sixth in the Champions League table and level on points with Paris Saint-Germain after three successive European wins, visit the Stadium of Light on December 14, and they will face a very different side to the one they comfortably beat 3-0 in the FA Cup two seasons ago.

Sunderland have changed manager since then. And the club has also changed a lot of players.

The gap between the Championship and Premier League was evident in that cup tie, but Sunderland, whose fans can use the new £31million Keel Crossing to cross the Wear for games, have bridged the gap this season thanks to Le Bris’ management and a strong summer in the transfer market.

Sunderland, though, will lose up to seven players to the Africa Cup of Nations next month.

United will only lose DR Congo’s Yoane Wissa, a summer signing they have had to make do without so far due to injury.

According to the Premier League, “there is a possibility that some players will leave early for the tournament” ahead of the round of fixtures which includes the Wear-Tyne derby.

Newcastle have six games before the Sunderland game, including Champions League fixtures away to Olympique Marseille and Bayer Leverkusen, and a first visit to Everton’s new stadium, but the first league derby in more than eight years will be on the horizon very soon.

It has been more than 14 years since the club last won a Premier League fixture at the Stadium of Light.

On a bright August afternoon in 2011, Ryan Taylor wrote himself into Geordie folklore when he lifted a free-kick over the wall.

As the last few jubilant away fans left the stadium, I sat down in the dugout with a colleague to interview him.

I told him: “You have no idea yet what you have just done!”

All these years later, that goal is still celebrated in song.

And, for all the club’s struggles away from home this season, a new folk hero could emerge at the Stadium of Light.

St James’ Park’s Euro 2028 host status

Five Euro 2028 games will be played at St James’ Park.

And England could play a Round of 16 fixture at the stadium, one of nine tournament host venues, should they top their group.

Last week’s announcement took me back to 1996, when the stadium staged three European Championship group fixtures.

A student at the time, I had the opportunity to work as a volunteer in the media centre, a temporary building behind the Gallowgate end of the ground, for the tournament.

The work itself was mundane – there was a lot of photocopying and faxing – but the experience of working behind the scenes at the tournament was anything but mundane.

I was in awe of some of the big-name players, among them Zinedine Zidane, Gheorghe Hagi, Hristo Stoichkov, who represented their countries at St James’ Park that summer.

That all said, I did skip one of the Euro 96 games at St James’ Park.

Instead of watching France v Bulgaria, at was at Wembley, sat along from a bowler-hatted Dutchman (see photograph below), to see England beat Holland 4-1.

Alan Shearer was among the scorers on an unforgettable afternoon at the national stadium.

Euro 96 was particularly memorable, and the prospect of another international tournament coming to St James’ Park is an exciting one.

Whatever the future holds holds for St James’ Park amid the need for a higher capacity, the city and it’s iconic stadium are perfect for Euro 2028.

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Define success for Newcastle United this season.

Will be a top-four finish? Or top five? Or progression in the Champions League? Or a run in a domestic cup?

There was, understandably, a negative reaction to the weekend’s 3-1 defeat to West Ham United.

The result left the club 13th in the Premier League, and Eddie Howe did not hide his frustration after the game at the London Stadium. The team was lethargic, and lacked ideas as well as legs, after a demanding few months on the pitch.

Newcastle are yet to win away from home in the division, and that is a concern with just over a quarter of the domestic season gone.

“I didn’t like the body language of the group,” Howe, tellingly, said.

Yet the Champions League table makes for much better reading.

The club, which has won six of its last eight games in all competitions, is sixth, and level on points with Paris Saint-Germain, after winning three games in a row in the competition for the first time since Sir Bobby Robson’s side memorably recovered from a seemingly-disastrous start in the 2002/03 season and qualified for the second group stage.

Newcastle beat Athletic Club 2-0 at St James’ Park last night thanks to headers from Dan Burn and Joelinton.

This time, there were no problems with the body language.

It was as much of a routine win as you could hope for in the competition. There were not exactly any Bonfire Night fireworks on the pitch as the sound of rockets reverberated across Tyneside, but Burn’s header was a cracker.

So the well-placed club could well reach the knockout stage of the competition for the first time in its history, but progress in Europe would inevitably come at a cost given the demands the extra games would place on Howe’s squad.

Matching or bettering last season’s Premier League finish will be a challenge for the Carabao Cup quarter-finalists.

But the success of this season will not solely be judged on the club’s final domestic position.

Four years of Eddie Howe at Newcastle

Howe will celebrate four years as Newcastle head coach on Saturday.

There has been much to celebrate in that time. The club has finished fourth, seventh and fifth in his three full seasons in charge, qualified for two Champions League campaigns – and won a first major domestic trophy in 70 years.

That is hard to beat, and, in Howe’s time on Tyneside, his fiercely-competitive team has proved hard to beat. That is why the West Ham performance was so hard to take.

There have been downs as well as ups over the past four years, but Howe is already one of the most successful managers in the club’s history.

The midweek win means it will be a happier anniversary for Howe, who took on the job when the club was winless and seemingly heading for the Championship. Eighteen months later, the club was in the Champions League for the first time in two decades.

And there could be more to celebrate this season, despite the club’s underwhelming Premier League away form.

What are the links between Newcastle and Bilbao?

Athletic produced a lovely video for its social media channels ahead of the game.

It celebrated the bond between the two clubs, which was forged when they met in the UEFA Cup in 1994.

There were memorable scenes before, during and after the second leg in Bilbao, which ended in defeat for Newcastle, knocked out on away goals.

Of course, there are cultural and historical links between the North East of England and Bilbao which go back much further, right to Athletic’s inception. Coal from the region was shipped to Bilbao, and iron ore was sent back in the opposite direction.

And the game of football was also exported to the Basque region from England in the late 19th century,

“The game was initially brought to Bilbao by British migrant workers and young Basques who had studied in Britain,” states the club’s website.

The shared industrial history of the two proud cities, each with a strong identity, resonates with fans today.

In the video, one Athletic fan said: “When you mix Newcastle coal and Bilbao iron, you create good steel.”

Athletic fans seemed to enjoy their club’s latest visits to Tyneside, and the bond between the two fanbases was strengthened as they mingled with Newcastle supporters in the city this week.

Let us hope that the two clubs – who met at St James’ Park for a friendly three years ago – can one day meet again at Athletic’s Sam Mames home.

Certainly, the stunning stadium, built on land next to the stadium which hosted the 1994 tie against Kevin Keegan’s side, would be quite a venue for a future pre-season game.

It would be the friendliest of friendlies.

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Over the years, I reported on a few near misses from the press box.

By that I mean times when I felt that Newcastle United could, and should, have gone further in major competitions.

Three of those near misses, or missed opportunities, came under the lights in Europe.

There was the UEFA Cup run of the 2003/04 season, when a Didier Drogba-inspired Olympique Marseille ended hopes of silverware in what turned out to be Sir Bobby Robson’s final full season in charge of the club.

Things went up in flames at the Stade Velodrome, a stadium the club will revisit later this season for a Champions League fixture, on a night when the home side’s fans started a real fire in their end.

Three years later in the same competition, it all went wrong away against AZ Alkmaar as the home side, beaten 4-2 at St James’ Park, went through on the away goals rule after a 2-0 loss for Glenn Roeder’s side in Holland.

Defensive mistakes, and a disputed penalty in the home leg, had proved costly in what had seemed like a winnable competition, and European campaign which had begun quietly against a Norwegian club nine months earlier ended without a bang.

After the game, the disappointment was palpable in the mixed zone.

Shay Given said: “What can we say? We have let the fans down again. The whole team did not play well and we are out of Europe, so it is the end of the season.”

Newcastle fans, of course, are used to being let down.

Alan Pardew and an awkward question in Lisbon

But the near miss that sticks out most in my mind came against tonight’s Champions League opposition, Benfica.

Before a ball was kicked in the Europa League quarter-final tie, things had kicked off in the Portuguese press after then-manager Alan Pardew’s pre-match press conference at the Estadio da Luz.

Pardew’s response to a slightly-loaded question about how Benfica, the most successful Portuguese club, would fare in the Premier League did not go down well.

The club, Pardew suggested, would finish between eighth and 10th.

Portuguese journalists did not like the idea that the hugely-successful club would be a mid-table side in England, and the next day’s headlines in Lisbon were not kind.

Newcastle played well in the first leg, but were still beaten 3-1. They were even better at home, especially after Papiss Cisse – who had scored at the Estadio da Luz – netted to put the team within a goal of the last competition’s four.

I clearly remember that frenetic last period as the team pushed for a second goal. In the end, Benfica levelled in injury time to end what was the club’s only European run during Mike Ashley’s time as owner.

Ashley’s indifference to European competition at the time had seen only one senior player, Vurnon Anita, recruited for what would be a challenging campaign at home and abroad following the previous season’s fifth-placed finish, and the club’s league form, inevitably, suffered.

But the team, and Pardew and his coaching staff, deserved credit for taking the team so far in Europe that season.

Ultimately, his side was just a goal away from reaching the semi-finals. Had they progressed, they would have surely been one of the favourites to win the competition.

What Mourinho has said about Newcastle

The hope on Tyneside is that Eddie Howe’s team can progress in the Champions League this season, having put their opening defeat to Barcelona behind them with a convincing 4-0 win over Union Saint-Gilloise, their biggest in the competition proper.

Howe and “little Magpie” Jose Mourinho, appointed Benfica manager for the second time last month, held their pre-match pressers yesterday.

Having learnt his trade under the late, great Sir Bobby, Mourinho has never needed much encouragement to speak well of Newcastle on his previous visits to St James’ Park.

And this time he revealed that he had told his players about the club’s “beautiful” and atmospheric home.

“I’ve never hidden how dear Newcastle is to me because of the influence of a legendary person at this club. St James’ Park is a fantastic place to play football. People do not come here to watch the game, they come here to play it with them. It’s not just the stadium, it’s this club, the history, the passion and the fans.

“With the economic power they have now, it’s a team that’s very close to even bigger things. It’s a very special club, because of the culture in this region. It’s very different culturally to London and to Manchester. I said to my players: ‘It’s beautiful here, and you will feel that atmosphere.’”

Mourinho knows from experience just how hard it can be to get a result at St James’ Park when Newcastle’s players AND fans are playing as one.

And tonight, hopefully, will be another special Champions League occasion.

So when I think of Benfica at St James’ Park, I think of that near Pardew-era miss, and that 20-minute period when Newcastle threw everything at their visitors, only to concede a late goal.

This Newcastle side, looking to put their weekend defeat to Brighton and Hove Albion behind them, can make their own history tonight.

And, looking at Howe’s team, I see a striker, five-goal Nick Woltemade, who seemingly cannot miss.

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I was reminded of the briefest of trips to Wales with Newcastle United ago this week.

In the programme for last night’s 4-1 Carabao Cup win over Bradford City, shirt collector Gavin Haigh revealed another match-worn top from his impressive collection.

This jersey had been worn by Jonjo Shelvey five years ago for the club’s first visit to Newport County’s Rodney Parade.

The two clubs had been paired in the fourth round of the Carabao Cup in the 2020/21 season, with a Jacob Murphy-inspired Newcastle having beaten Morecambe 7-0 in the previous round.

This behind-closed-doors tie had come amid ongoing Covid-19 restrictions, and it had been raining, heavily, on Rodney Parade that day. United fans had to watch the game on TV.

Back to Shelvey – and that shirt.

Shelvey, wearing the black and white No.8 top featured in the programme, got Newcastle back into the game with a stunning goal.

The midfielder took the ball just inside the box, and twisted and turned before curling a shot into the top right-hand corner.

The goal was memorable. And his celebration? Odd.

Shelvey, wearing the captain’s armband, ran in front of the ageing West Stand, cupping his ears and making a “shhhh” gesture in the direction of the few socially-distanced journalists seated in the press box.

Presumably, Shelvey was unhappy at some criticism of him and the team, then managed by Steve Bruce. It was a great goal, but I wrote at the time that a strike against a League Two side at an empty stadium would not fully silence any of his or the team’s critics.

“Shelvey’s quite entitled to that opinion, but what he must understand is that most of the criticism in the media has been mild compared to that which has come from fans themselves. Some have gone in a lot harder on Bruce and his team.”

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