This felt like a different sort of fixture release day. For the first time in a long while, Newcastle United supporters can look ahead to a new season with justified optimism. In fact, it said it all that bookmakers are not even listing Newcastle among the candidates for relegation as they so often did during the Ashley era. The Magpies are no longer even in the conversation.
On the surface, it looks one of the most balanced set of fixtures Newcastle have been handed in years, but a challenging opening month will tell us a lot about this side and offer some clues on what is to come. Newcastle start the season at home against a newly-promoted outfit, Nottingham Forest, which is never straightforward, and then travel to Brighton, who finished ninth last season, before welcoming champions Man City to St James' Park. Newcastle face Wolves on the road a week later before meeting Liverpool at Anfield on August 31.
It serves as a contrast to last season when Newcastle were handed a reasonable enough start against West Ham, Aston Villa, Southampton, Manchester United and Leeds. However, the Magpies failed to race out of the blocks and only took two points from those games and quickly dropped into the relegation zone under Steve Bruce.
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Eddie Howe ultimately succeeded Bruce in November, a few weeks after the takeover was completed, but Newcastle had already played 11 league games by then. The Magpies' head coach inherited a group who were low on confidence, who had forgotten how to win and how to see games out, and it took time for results to improve. Indeed, it is easy to forget that Howe won just one of his opening nine Premier League fixtures.
It goes without saying that Newcastle simply cannot afford a similar start this season. Playing catch up and scrapping for every point brought with it its own intense pressure until the final games of the campaign when the Magpies were, effectively, safe following a dramatic turnaround. It was only then that Howe's side could play with a little more freedom, as seen in the 3-0 win at Norwich and the 2-0 victory against Arsenal, which was Newcastle's best performance of the season.
This group of players, traditionally, go on runs and the challenge this season is for Newcastle to become more consistent, to earn that place in the top 10. Having picked up just one win in their opening 22 league games last season, the Magpies ended up recording 12 victories in their final 16 games. Similarly, after only winning two games between December 6 and April 4 in the previous campaign, Newcastle went on to triumph in five of their final eight fixtures that season.
Newcastle, ultimately, failed to build on the momentum generated towards the end of that 2020-21 season, when the Magpies finished in the top six of the form table over the final nine fixtures, and made just one signing in Joe Willock, who was already on loan, last summer. Although Newcastle have again made another loan move permanent this month, to bring in Matt Targett, Howe will certainly be doing a lot more business before the window shuts.
Like most managers, Howe would, ideally, like to get his business done early ahead of his players returning for pre-season training on July 1 so the Newcastle boss can reinforce his key core principles and new arrivals can adjust to his intense demands. The players may not have felt fit enough at the start of last season, but that certainly won't be the case under Howe and his staff this summer.
Although the footballs will be out from day one, there will be a lot of disguised running as Howe builds up fitness with big training games rather than sending his players on endless laps around the pitch. When it comes to the friendlies, Howe hates losing pre-season games and Newcastle will face strong opposition in Benfica, Atalanta and Athletic Bilbao before the start of the new campaign.
Howe will hope these preparations will not only ensure that his players have the load to navigate a testing campaign but, also, that it gives his squad the ideal foundations to hit the ground running and build on a strong finish to last season. Newcastle have not traditionally been great starters in recent years, but Howe will be desperate to change that.
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