Newcastle United are well ahead of schedule as they begin to panic the Premier League elite with a stellar run of form. Eddie Howe's side have improved on the pitch, while also adding much-needed infrastructure changes behind the scenes at St James' Park.
The owners promised success on their Tyneside arrival little over 12 months ago, with Amanda Staveley eyeing a Premier League title in the next 10 years. Newcastle have since put mechanisms in place to make that aim a reality in the next decade or sooner.
A massive shift has been felt on Tyneside, with stark similarities to Manchester City 's revolutionary takeover back in 2008. Stephen Ireland enjoyed the benefits of that particular change of ownership at the club before eventually moving to Newcastle towards the latter stages of his career.
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Speaking this week, the midfielder may well have been describing the 2022 Newcastle United revival and Howe's arrival when discussing the Abu Dhabi takeover and Mark Hughes' at Manchester City, and the imminent changes that followed it. "I played at Manchester City for a long time and worked with lots of different managers. They were all good in their own ways, but when Mark [Hughes] came in, it just felt different," Ireland exclusively told Ladbrokes: Fanzone.
"He assembled a proper team. He was ahead of his time and he had a team of people for everything; we were doing urine tests before training, fingerprint tests, it was unbelievable. We were getting pampered in every area; we were never exposed to this kind of stuff, the visual analysis, it was just incredible.
"The first couple of months working with Mark were amazing. And when the new owners came in, it was unbelievable. From the very first day, you could just feel this massive shift in the club. It just felt different."
Current Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola is certainly feeling the modern Newcastle, last week announcing they were top four contenders in the Premier League this term.
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