2021/22 Season Preview

Love isn't blind but, sometimes, optimism is.

It's coming around again... that time of year where all of us Newcastle fans get disproportionately excited about what's to come and we all go out and put "CHAMPIONS 22" on the backs of our shirts and tell our mates "yeah, it's TOTALLY worth putting a tenner on Newcastle to win the league, because Leicester managed it with Danny Simpson at right-back, and it's a year that's divisible by the number of letters in the captain's doctor's daughter's goldfish's middle name so we're GUARANTEED to finish in the top 7..."

No? Just me? No. Not even me. However, one thing I've noticed during this close-season is that, due to my soon-to-be-complete emancipation from Facebook and no face-to-face footy discussion for the last 18 months, my opinion on what we have to look forward to (or not, as the case may be) has not been coloured by interactions with other fans whatsoever. What I can't get my head around, though, is whether that's a good or a bad thing. I've certainly been very surprised, since building this website, at the level of pessimism among the fans during what has been, at the very least, a productive summer. When the Toontalk Facebook group ran a recent poll to garner fans' opinions on how we were likely to fare against our first three opponents in this season's Premier League, I was astounded at this result.

I mean, don't get me wrong, West Ham, Aston Villa, and Southampton can all be fierce opposition (particularly the former based on last season) but, at the same time, we beat them 3-0 at home last time out. It's still looking likely we'll sign Willock, we've got a recognised striker at #9, and while I still don't think that Steve Bruce is the right man for the job, long-term, surely it can't just be me that noticed we only lost to Arsenal, Chelsea Man Utd and Man City out of our last 16 league games? A draw at Anfield and a narrow 3-4 defeat against the League Champions among those results too...

I'm not going to get carried away, but surely even when we, as Newcastle fans, disagree so vehemently, we do so based on our own observations, right? So why is it that 58 out of the first 114 voters (51%) say we will end up with three points or fewer from three games? Ah... surely it must be because we're starting the season against Man Utd, Chelsea and Man City... no, wait, it's West Ham (against whom we won twice last term, scoring 6), Southampton (who I guess are something of a bogey team, especially away from home, but they finished 15th) and Aston Villa (who only finished one place above us last season and who've been in the Championship more recently than we have)! Yet 28% of our members don't think we're good for even a single, measly point from those games! Conversely we've got 12% who think we'll go the first three games unbeaten; 5% have gone for three wins... I think "nul pwan", to spell it phonetically, is more likely than nine, but at the same time, I absolutely can't see it happening based on what we've actually seen from Steve Bruce and his side over the last few games.

Besides the repeat transfer of Joe Willock being an obvious priority after he saved our season last time out, there doesn't look to be a lot coming in but there are certainly areas of the squad that I think will improve due to the team gelling. The jury has been out for some time on Jamal Lewis, Emil Krafth, Javi Manquillo, Ryan Fraser, and Jeff Hendrick, but having a full pre-season hopefully will have done wonders for these fringe players... not to mention that Joelinton and Wilson have been handed squad numbers that seem much more indicative of the duties that are expected of them, hopefully relieving some of the pressure on the former, who had a history of getting a healthy glut of assists from wide before he joined Newcastle.

There are still players whose potential we've been lauding for ages who are yet to show what they've got at the top level. One of these is former U-17 World Cup winner and U-20 World Cup golden glove winner Freddie Woodman, who is yet to make a first-team appearance for Newcastle but has impressed at Swansea, among other clubs, on loan. Due to Covid, it looks like Woodman will start the season as impromptu first-choice between the sticks, much like Karl Darlow did last term. Alongside Freddie are a few others who've come through the ranks but who've not quite attained the levels we hoped, the Longstaff brothers probably being the most infamous for this with Sean having been the subject of a speculation over a potential £50m bid from Manchester United, and his brother having scored a worldie against them before spending a considerable amount of time on the bench. Let's not forget, there's been a lot of talk about some of the lads that haven't quite broken through, yet, with Kell Watts, Tom Allan, and Mo Sangare all deemed to be worth holding onto when the likes of Elias Sørensen, Ludwig Francillette, and Dan Barlaser were not, and the likes of Jack Young and Joe White, both of whom made the bench in tonight's friendly against Burton Albion, vying for a place in the first-team squad.

We may feel like we've already been patient enough with some of these, but Jacob Murphy's performances last season are a perfect example of how some take a little longer than others to find their feet at a new club. Of course, I'm not about to rehash the old "he'll be like a new player" chestnut but, over Bruce's reign and especially under England assistant-coach Graeme Jones' guidance, a lot of stock is being put in player development and, even though our facilities are the laughing stock 0f the league, the actual talent that we have in our ranks has produced overwhelmingly positive noises from both biased and unbiased sources.

Anyway, the point I'm making is that there's really no need for the doom and gloom this season. Mike Ashley has, I'm sure, proven to most of us that he really, really is trying to sell the club, Amanda Staveley has made similar claims from the other side of the exchange, and the appointment of Graeme Jones has already paid dividends when it comes to getting the most out of the squad we have. Is it ideal? No... but it never will be under Ashley and, clearly, it's only a matter of time before he's out of the club for good (and that horribly ostentatious stadium-covering Sports Direct advert with him). In the meantime, everything else is a stop-gap until we reach greener pastures. Steve Bruce mightn't be the best man for the job, but I'm confident that both Jones and Willock will be on hand this coming season to help him improve on last season's performances and eventual league position. We won't qualify for Europe, but we certainly won't be looking at a relegation battle this season and, the way we played against the likes of Liverpool, Man City, Leicester, West Ham et al. has already demonstrated that our resilience and dedication, not to mention camaraderie and team spirit, have drastically improved over the last season or so.

So, less of the grumbling, please, Newcastle fans. By the end of this season, it will have been 15 years of abject hopelessness and, believe me, nobody is looking forward to new ownership more than me. This decade-and-a-half of turmoil has been utterly sickening at times but I'm very happy to say, for the first time since Rafa left, that I can't wait to see what this team looks like after Graeme Jones has had a pre-season with them.

Not holding my breath for silverware, but confident that we'll be very much up for the visit of West Ham on August 15th, and that my wife won't be too disappointed that we're spending the day at St. James' Park, rather than going for afternoon tea on her birthday. Of course, if I'm wrong and we get tonked 4-0, I'll just blame John Waters anyway as it's his fault we both support them. Happy new season everyone! (Seriously... HAPPY... go on, give it a try). HWTL