Eddie Howe was little more than two minutes into his post-match press conference following the 5-1 mauling at the hands of Spurs, but the Newcastle United head coach was keen to get a message to supporters ahead of Friday's sell-out at St James' Park against Wolves.
"We need the crowd and the stadium united and we need to make the atmosphere as intense as we can for our opponents because this is going to be a massive spell that really will go a long way to dictating our fate this season," Howe told reporters.
Six of Newcastle's last seven games have been away so players and staff are understandably excited to be back at St James' for the first of three crucial home fixtures in a row. Those involved are desperate to put that second-half performance at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium right after conceding four goals in 35 minutes.
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Rather than there being a sense of trepidation around the fixture against high-flying Wolves, though, the survivors from the Ashley era will at least know it will be a very different atmosphere inside St James' compared to Newcastle's last Friday night game back in September. Isaac Hayden recalled how the atmosphere was 'hot' for all the wrong reasons that night after Raphinha put Leeds in front as anti-Steve Bruce chants were repeatedly aired.
Newcastle did get back into the game, courtesy of an equaliser from Allan Saint-Maximin, but even watching club legend Brian Kilcline told ChronicleLive how he noticed how supporters 'couldn't see any light' that night. No one knew it at the time, but that 1-1 draw proved to be the final home game of the Ashley era.
The atmosphere since then, even during some testing moments, has been remarkable. So much so, the Gallowgate repeatedly chanted 'Eddie Howe's black and white army!' when the Magpies were 4-0 down against Man City at St James' last December.
Howe has looked to harness that support- regularly paying tribute to the fans and Wor Flags' brilliant displays - and the Newcastle head coach is desperate to build a team these supporters enjoy watching and connect with. Indeed, even after a humiliating FA Cup exit against Cambridge, Howe led staff and the majority of his players over to applaud those fans who stuck with them because he knew it was important to do so.
It is not a coincidence, then, that St James' has become a bit of a fortress in recent months. Take the last time Newcastle played under the lights at St James' against Everton back in February. Ryan Fraser admitted the 'fans got us through that' following the 3-1 win while Kieran Trippier said the atmosphere was 'something I've probably not experienced in my career'.
The numbers tell their own story. Newcastle have won their last three games at home; the Magpies have only lost one league match at St James' under Howe and that was the aforementioned defeat against champions Man City way back in December; and the Newcastle head coach has picked up 62% of his points to date on Tyneside.
Given the atmosphere, is it any wonder that part-owner Mehrdad Ghodoussi likened leaving St James' and building a new stadium elsewhere to 'tearing your soul out?' Ghodoussi, after all, was entranced when he watched his first game at St James' against Liverpool back in 2017 while chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan was also moved during his first match as chairman last October.
It won't be easy, given the various complications surrounding the land around the ground, but the club's owners want to exhaust every avenue possible to try and expand the ground rather than move away. The first Friday night game of this new era may yet prove a timely reminder of why.
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