Sitting at home in France watching that final Newcastle United day of the season with a Mackem | OneFootball

Newcastle United fans have just seen the 2024/25 Premier League season come to its end.

A season that has proved to be quite magnificent.

As one season ends though, thoughts immediately turn to what comes next, only 11 weeks to go until the 2025/26 Premier League kicks off.

An ideal time to get a snapshot of views from Newcastle United fans on their thoughts, both on the season that has just ended AND what is to now follow.

So we sent out questions to a number of regular/irregular contributors to The Mag.

Next up answering the questions we have Wor Lass:

Talk us through how it was for you, on the last day of the 2024/25 season (Your emotions, how it all played out, where you were watching it (at SJP or wherever), who you shared it with?

I watched Sunlun jamming their way to a totally unexpected victory with my old Mackem neighbours (who really are special friends) the day before. They started talking about extra time and who would take pens after that and actually missed the winning goal! So, the next day me and my Mackem pal Chris watched our match.

I can only say that it was as frustrating as it was weird. It’s so strange to feel almost totally cheesed off when qualifying for the Champions League.

With those two outcomes, me and my mate both lost our chance to be nauseatingly patronising to each other. Oh well, I think I’ll have a better chance chance than him of doing that next season, though.

In order, which eight players have been most influential across the 2024/25 season?

Tonali – has quietly got a grip on our midfield defensively

Burn – inspirational, a rock at the back

Isak – ice cold!

Bruno – the heart and soul of our team and the conduit to the fans

Murphy – the ice maker

Barnes – weighed in with some crucial goals, a class act

Livramento – a revelation at left-back as well as right

Gordon/Joelinton – both great earlier in the season, Joey is a beast!

Have you at any point during his time at Newcastle United, thought that Eddie Howe’s position should be under question?

I do remember a “Howe out!” post by a regular contributor (no names, no pack drill) who, I hope, is thoroughly ashamed of his outburst. There was a brief clamour for us to bring in an “elite” manager but I suppose most people now agree that we have one.

Your favourite three moments in NUFC Premier League matches this past season?

I’m useless at remembering specific games and who we were playing. But I do remember it was Brentford and in the last 15 minutes or so when Sandro Tonali hit THAT goal. I commented a few days back that I couldn’t understand why it wasn’t nominated for goal of the season.

Flash tormenting the full back and putting in a perfect cross for Joey to put us 2-0 up at Mould Trafford and calm any nerves that might have lingered. Winning in the Theatre of Screams is always something to savour.

Another brilliant Gordon cross for Ice Cold Alex to power in what turned out to be the winning goal against Arsenal that ended a frustrating streak of five games without a win and gave Spain’s answer to Tiny Tears something else to blub about.

What are your thoughts on Newcastle United Sporting Director Paul Mitchell leaving?

A bit strange and unexpected. I assume that whatever Eddie’s vision re recruitment and playing style, has been valued by the Chairman far higher than Mitchell’s. My assumption is that Mitchell wanted more control over the direction of these matters with Eddie merely being the coach but Mr Yasir Al-Rumayyan is clearly no fool and has, in my opinion, endorsed the right man. I do think Mitchell has been busy in the youth/development market, though, and we could well see some benefits there in the future. I hope so.

Sunderland are now back in the same division as NUFC, your thoughts?

I’m pleased for my Mackem mates. They’re not embittered trolls and they’re not daft either (they got out of town a long time ago so they’ve “normalised over the years). They said straight away, “We’ll come straight back down again” and I think they’re dead right. Still, no one expected Roger the Cheese to get them up so maybe he could pull off another miracle.

Three words to describe how you currently feel as a Newcastle fan?

Happy (that we’re going in the right direction)

Proud (of our new owners, Eddie, the lads and their achievements last season)

Frustrated (that we’re having to weave our way through the PSR quagmire)

Three words to describe Newcastle United now?

On the up!

Does 2024/25 now rank as your favourite ever Newcastle United season?

Without a doubt.

Which are your three favourite previous NUFC seasons (before 2024/25) and why?

I hate these sort of questions because I don’t retain memories like that but here goes:

I would have to nominate Supermac’s first season, 1971/72. Watching him turn on the afterburners were some of the most exciting moments I’ve ever had in a football ground.

Whilst 1992/93 was a promotion season which I remember well. The lads won their 10th consecutive game on the 10th day of the 10th month of 1992, before then also winning their 11th. The 11 game winning spell was ended just short of a new record by Grimsby Town thanks to a superb goal by Jim Dobbin – who was clearly no donkey! The Toon got revenge for that, though, because they sealed promotion to the Premier League with a 2-0 win at Blundell Park, Grimsby (well, Cleethorpes for the purists). The tide must have been out that afternoon.

The season we finally got rid of two ugly carbuncles from our ailing body has to be in there. In October 2021, the Saudi PIF finally completed their takeover of the club and we were rid of the corpulent parasite, Mike Ashley. His patsy, Steve “Greggosaur” Bruce followed shortly afterwards and we were staring relegation in the face even at that early stage. Having been turned down by the “Sneaky, sneaky” John Torturro look-alike, Unai Emre, who has since confirmed his pedigree at Villa, we eventually made do with the bloke that got Bournemouth relegated. The rest is history!

What would represent success in the 2025/26 season for Newcastle United?

We’ve set the standard now.

Progress to the knockout phase of the Champions’ League and also to qualify again. I think if we can be competitive this time around and finish top four in the Prem. that would satisfy me. We all want cup success but I doubt that our squad will be strong enough by then to compete on too many fronts at once. Respect the domestic cups but rotate as much as possible.

Predict the top six in the Premier League (in order) and which three clubs will be relegated.

Really difficult. Will Man City recover enough to get back to the top? Will Arsenal get a centre forward? Will Liverpool run away from the pack again? Are we going to be ready for a serious tilt at the top? So many imponderables! Anyway,

Man City

Liverpool

Arsenal

Newcastle

Chelsea

Aston Villa

Sunderland

Burnley

Wolves minus Cunha

Name a Newcastle player who you think could be a massive surprise success this coming season, doing far better than most fans expect.

I picked Lloyd Kelly last time around so my track record’s pretty poor here – but he did do a lot better than expected on the transfer revenue front. The only person I can nominate from the existing squad is Will Osula and that’s mainly based on what a nice lad he seems to be. I’m hoping though that one or two youngsters may step up or Eddie brings in someone unheralded and turns them into a “worldy”.

Who do you see as the six most important current Newcastle players (in order) for next (2025/26) season?

Tonali

Isak

BDB

Joey

Barnes

With NUFC now having won a trophy…Next three seasons, would you rather finish top four all three seasons BUT win nothing, or finish mid-table all three seasons AND win the League Cup in one of the three?

Top four all the way. The monkey’s off our back now so let’s establish ourselves at the top table, get our co-efficient up and enjoy those top European nights and all the riches that come with them.

What do you think was the key moment in the 2024/25 season, the turning point maybe, which then set us eventually on track to success?

I’ve already mentioned the 1-0 win against Arsenal back in November. It ended a six match run without a win and must have been a massive confidence boost to the players.

If Newcastle United had ended up outside the Champions League places on the final day, would this last season have had a bit of failure attached to it?

It would have been disappointing but you can hardly call winning a domestic trophy and qualifying for the Europa League (a competition, incidentally, that we could conceivably win) rather than the Champions’ League failure. I do think some people were in danger of losing sight of that towards the end of the season.

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)?

I’m en route from France to the UK at the minute and not up to date with the transfer market but I reckon we could afford a couple of fairly expensive signings and I would like Mbeumo as first choice and Malick Thiaw next in – as the two most crucial gaps to fill. Jacob Ramsey seems to have been linked and he would be an excellent signing. The problem, for me, is more the effect that signings might have on our wage structure.

Any Newcastle players you would be ok with leaving, that might surprise other NUFC fans (Including any where you think the money received for them and the extra PSR flexibility it would give, could then lead to an overall better team/squad)

The one that may be a surprise to some would be Flash. He’s been brilliant for us and a revelation as a person but I’ve never been convinced that he’s as “on board” with the project as others. He also seems to have dropped a notch or two in performance levels since his last injury. Is it lack of recovery time or is his heart on Merseyside? Time will tell. He would bring in a really good fee and we have Harvey to play in that position, plus Sanusi waiting in the wings.