We wanted to get an overview of how Newcastle United fans are feeling at the moment.
Thoughts on the 2025/26 season that has just concluded.
As one season ends though, thoughts immediately turn to what comes next, only 11 weeks to go until the 2026/27 Premier League kicks off.
An ideal time to get a snapshot of views from Newcastle United fans on their thoughts, with a busy summer ahead of us all.
So we sent out questions to a number of regular/irregular contributors to The Mag.
Next up answering the questions is Jamie Smith:
Three words to describe how you currently feel as a Newcastle United fan?
Glad it’s over
Three words to describe Newcastle United now?
Seismic summer ahead
Newcastle United fell from 5th to 12th in the Premier League, what percentage of the blame/responsibility would you attach to each of these (Please make sure your percentages add up to 100!)?
Alexander Isak 10%
Eddie Howe 25%
The players 20%
Newcastle United owners (not dealing properly with Isak situation, not having senior staff in place etc to help get summer 2025 transfers done etc) 40%
Bad luck and small margins 5%
What rating out of 10 would you give each of the permanent summer 2025 signings for their contributions across the 2025/26 season and what are your hopes/expectations (if any) for each of them next season at Newcastle United?
Anthony Elanga 3 – never got going and rumours of a return to Forest currently swirling. Think many would take that deal, but if not, he has a chance with a clean slate if we can adapt a playing style that suits him
Jacob Ramsey – 6.5 – a solid addition but didn’t impact enough due to injury and being integrated. Hopeful of a good year ahead for him
Malick Thiaw – 7, some clangers and part of a defence that shipped countless poor goals from the turn of the year, but the only signing who really settled well and claimed his place in the side
Yoane Wissa – 1. I get why we bought him and the injury ruined the season, but just a disaster that has wiped out the profit made on Isak. May benefit from a reset but can’t see him playing much if he’s here next season.
Nick Woltemade – 6, definitely has something about him but it looks like he’s been bought without an idea how to use him. I think this is the key issue for the season ahead. Needs to stop fiddling on too long with the ball, but I feel strangely hopeful for him at United.
What do you see as the biggest priorities in the transfer market this summer?
Goalie. The swapping keepers was, for me, partly to blame for inconsistent form this year. I’d absolutely keep Pope but sign someone to be number 1.
Beyond that, we need another attacking player of some ilk to replace Gordon, and ideally you’d refresh the striking options by replacing Wissa.
Joelinton is injured too much so we need a new thug in midfield and Trippier’s departure necessitates a new RB, especially as Livramento is made of Weetabix.
We could do with reinforcements in pretty much every part of the pitch to be honest and it’s a case of prioritising where the needs are greatest.
Was it the correct decision to sell Anthony Gordon and how do you think he should be judged on his time at Newcastle United (and do you think he will prove a success at Barcelona)?
I think so, it’s a good price and the timing is spot on. Gordon has had some uninspiring spells at Newcastle but overall he’s been a terrific servant. His performances across the middle of last season were amazing and went under the radar as he played a huge part in the top 5 place and getting us to the league cup final. The fact he missed that final due to suspension is another side to his game that works against him, if he can channel that aggression properly he could be a huge success at Barca.
What do you predict will be the Newcastle United first choice eleven for the 2026/27 season and please put ‘new signing’ in any position where you think that will turn out to be the case.
New signing in goal
Livramento, Hall, Botman, Thiaw
Bruno, new signing, Tonali
New signing, Woltemade, Osula
Is Eddie Howe still in charge next season the correct decision?
Time will tell but right now it doesn’t feel that way.
I’m heavily basing that on the poor performances in the final run of the season, where there were no midweek fixtures to contend with and Howe should have been forward planning for next season by showcasing a team that could rise from the ashes (albeit one that needing reinforcing), 7 points from 7 fairly winnable matches and further evidence of the clueless approach that plagued the season suggested that the next campaign might be more of the same.
I hope to be proven wrong and irrespective of where you stand on it that’s the decision and we need to get behind it.
Which players emerge with credit for the 2025/26 season?
Bruno and Hall are the only ones who have enhanced their reputation. Barnes’ goal contribution was solid and Schar showed his worth when you compare the goals conceded before and after his injury. Osula’s late emergence could be promising.
Fair play to Thiaw and Woltemade who were adapting to the PL and both have acquitted themselves well despite the odd struggle.
Everyone else – no.
What would represent success in the 2026/27 season for Newcastle United?
Winning a domestic cup is incredibly difficult; examination of the roster of recent winners is evidence of that. Without Europe though we have the opportunity to give both a strong go. Outside of that, qualification for some kind of Euro competition via the league should absolutely be the aim for NUFC in our current position. Europa or above would be success.
What do you see as the minimum to achieve this coming season?
Europe. The club struggles to compete at the top because of SCR and the financial gap to the establishment which means we can’t offer top wages. The same reason works the other way though, in that Newcastle’s respective income means we shouldn’t be behind the Bournemouths and Brightons.
Predict the top six in the Premier League (in order) in 2026/27.
Arsenal, Chelsea, Man City, Man United, Liverpool, Newcastle. I’m putting us as a punt on the assumption things work out, but it’s early and could be Villa or Spurs in there.
Which eight current Newcastle United players (in order) are the most important to keep for the 2026/27 season?
Bruno and Hall are the only absolutes for me. Tonali is an asset but I can see him going, Woltemade may grow into a superstar but isn’t currently a key person. Would hate to lose Lewis Miley as an academy graduate done well. To round it up to 8 I’ll add in Osula in the hope he maintains his late season form, Barnes because we need depth on the left after Gordon’s departure and Dan Burn to capitalise on the goodwill after his winner in the World Cup final.
At what point did you first think the 2025/26 Newcastle United wasn’t going to turn out as you had hoped it would?
In hindsight maybe Celtic away when Alexander Isak no-showed and we lost 4-0.
In reality I am going to go for Brentford away. You can forgive an off day but this was the second example after West Ham of our Groundhog Day performance where leads were chucked away and attacking impetus was absent. For a while it became the template for away games then in the new year it seeped into St James.
There was a secondary blow when a poor second half performance at home to a second XI from Man City extinguished any realistic trophy chances in a season that had become reliant on the cups
Which players do you think would be ideal (and realistic) signings this summer (don’t feel limited to only players who have been linked to Newcastle United in the media)?
Three players I think would be good fits, attainable and the right profile are Khepren Thuram, Samu Aghehowa and Antonio Nusa. Whenever I say this they tend to end up at completely different clubs (apart from when I said Alexander Isak in 2022) but it’s in writing now on the off chance I’m finally right.
Also, a new keeper is essential and the vigour they’ve pursued Trafford with suggests the kind of confidence that had a great hit rate prior to last summer’s desperation.
We are now coming up to five years since the Newcastle United owners bought the club from Mike Ashley. Are you now more or less (or the same) optimistic about where they will take the club compared to how you felt back in October 2021? How committed do you think the owners are now to NUFC? Yasir Al-Rumayyan said the intention was to make Newcastle number one in the world, CEO David Hopkinson says the intention is that by 20230 the club will be competing to win all competitions. What do you predict will be the reality in the next five years?
Less optimistic. I think we all thought (hoped?) that Saudi would be relentless in breaking down the barriers the PL had in place preventing our success. They haven’t challenged any legislation (in spite of openings as Man City continue their fight) and the failure to even announce, let alone build any infrastructure to work on bridging the financial gap has never advanced past rumour and speculation.
I don’t think NUFC is any kind of priority for the PIF and it will be interesting to see who, if anyone, comes on board as an investor towards the new facilities. I wonder if it could lay the grounds for an ultimate withdrawal.
To be fair we have progressed in many ways and I can see it continuing up to 2030 but I can’t see us being the title contenders David Hopkinson has predicted. Closing that gap is more than a 4 year job.
How would you rate your optimism for next season at Newcastle United from 0-100?
50.
I’m putting that because there’s a full close season that may weigh that either way. I suspect it’ll be a different version of United that takes the field in August but they seemed so bereft of ideas at the end of the season it feels like a tremendous stretch to imagine the team being back in form.
I do retain hope that with the right reinforcements and an undisturbed pre-season we may see a reboot where the lack of European involvement is advantageous for us domestically, and this is likely to grow should encouraging signings start to arrive. By the time of the kick off I might be as high as 52.
When Anthony Gordon is playing at the World Cup will you still be thinking of him as one of our own?
Good question. The fact he’s basically been extracted from the squad in recent weeks made the move a slow burn so he’s felt gone for a while. It may sting a bit if he has an excellent tournament that could have inflated his price by £25million but I think he’s left with our goodwill and I hope both Gordon and England do well.
What level of interest generally will you have in the World Cup and what is your prediction on who will win it and how far do you think England will get?
I like casually watching random games during the World Cup and the involvement of Newcastle players adds interest.
Given the climate favours the American teams I’ll be keeping an eye on Brazil as I would love them to win it for Bruno.
Obviously this preference would be second to England finally winning the thing. However the schedule would suggest a likely QF meeting with Brazil, and as I said the climate will strongly favour them. I’m predicting another quarter final heartache I’m afraid.
If the Brazilians don’t step up (they’ll need to improve on their qualifying performance and I’d suggest Neymar’s fitness is key) Argentina could well retain the trophy.
The games with Newcastle players always hold that extra bit of interest, albeit tainted by the threat of them coming back injured.
You can follow the author on BlueSky @bigjimwinsalot.bsky.social