Newcastle United have had worse anniversaries. A club with designs on setting up residence in the top six marked a year of new ownership by scoring five goals and surging into the European places. It may only be temporary, as others have games in hand, but the more pertinent statistic is that Newcastle have the sixth most points in the last 12 months. If that is testament to the difference Eddie Howe has made, his biggest win in charge was garnished by Bruno Guimaraes, who struck twice in a star turn.
Investment has brought improvement and Guimaraes continues to look a fine use of £36 million. In a heady year on Tyneside, much of a £200m outlay has been spent disturbingly sensibly.
Progress feels a consequence, along with Howe’s capacity to blend the imported with the inherited, and Newcastle celebrated a year under the auspices of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund – or, according to interpretation, a year without Mike Ashley – with the sort of scoreline that would have felt impossible at this stage in 2021, when they were winless, but which does not now.
United had drawn their previous three at St James’ Park but wins have nonetheless become normalised here: this was a ninth in 13 matches. After being Fulham 4-1 last week, they routed capital opponents again. After a first-half burst of two goals in eight minutes, Ivan Toney’s penalty prompted Newcastle, and Guimaraes, to restore a two-goal advantage swiftly and United were increasingly rampant as they added two more.
The Brazilian was the most eye-catching performer on the pitch. Off it, attention was drawn to the Gallowgate End. Few owners are lauded – though a few are condemned – but the face of Newcastle’s new regime was.
Not, admittedly the Saudi PIF, whose activities stretch beyond reviving a demoralised football club and, for many, render then unfit to own a club. But a massive flag displayed by the home support contained an image of Amanda Staveley, along with a mocked-up Sky Sports graphic, declaring the takeover breaking news and displaying their subsequent activities in two transfer windows, listing the players who have come in to inject quality.
The ‘out’ column contained a solitary name: Ashley, with his destination listed as ‘Sports Direct’. Perhaps anyone who had extricated Newcastle from Ashley’s grasp would gain the popularity he lacked, but the controversy about the buyers is restricted to outside St James’ Park. There was a hint of gloating, too, amid a sense of vindication. A separate banner mocked Talksport for pronouncing the takeover “deader than a dead thing from dead land”.
If not all predictions stand the test of time, Newcastle’s revival increasingly does. The equivalent fixture was Howe’s first in charge, though not his first at St James’ Park; confined to a hotel room by Covid, he watched a 3-3 draw from afar.
Only four Newcastle players began that game and this and the breakthrough came from two flagship signings. After a short corner, Kieran Trippier, the first through the door, the statement recruit who could encourage others to join a relegation battle, delivered the deep cross to find the unmarked Guimaraes. He stooped to angle a header into the far corner, despite the despairing David Raya’s best efforts.
If the first goal came from a combination of the newcomers, the second stemmed from remnants of the Ashley years: Callum Wilson, Steve Bruce’s best buy, latched on to a poor pass from Raya and centred unselfishly. Jacob Murphy found the empty net. If the winger was only starting because Allan Saint-Maximin is not fully fit and Alexander Isak is injured, Howe has managed to conjure plenty from the players he was bequeathed and there are two halves of this side: five bought since the takeover, six survivors of the era of austerity.
Likewise, the second-half goals came from a recent arrival and a Rafa Benitez signing. Guimaraes robbed Aaron Hickey, strode forward purposefully and drove a shot into the bottom corner of the net. Miguel Almiron, fresh from his wonder goal at Craven Cottage, almost got another at the start, with Raya required to make a spectacular save. Instead he completed the scoring in more prosaic fashion, rounding the goalkeeper after intercepting Ethan Pinnock’s pass as Brentford’s policy of playing out from the back proved doubly costly.
Completing a defensive horror show, Pinnock applied the finishing touch to the substitute Joelinton’s cross to inadvertently register Newcastle’s fifth.
It was the third time a Brentford player had the ball in the net. Initially, they had threatened to assume the role of party-poopers. Bryan Mbuemo slotted them ahead, or so it seemed. A VAR review later and it was determined that Toney, who had attempted to flick Shandon Baptiste’s pass through to his strike partner, was offside and interfering with play.
Toney’s Newcastle career amounted to two substitute appearances but, after an inauspicious start to his return, Brentford’s stand-in captain did score. A penalty specialist beat Nick Pope from 12 yards after the goalkeeper parried his shot and then Dan Burn handled Hickey’s header. Yet this was a day when Newcastle had few reasons to rue the one who got away. Their past may be littered with mistakes, but there were further signs their future is rosier.
