Newcastle United's journey from the jaws of the Championship to the bright lights of the Champions League took a mere 18 months from the moment Eddie Howe arrived on Tyneside. FourFourTwo speaks to the players, the press, and other club insiders to bring you the full story of football's latest, greatest comeback.
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00:00 (electronic music)
00:02 Almost two years since their controversial takeover,
00:06 Newcastle are going where no magpie has flown for 20 years,
00:09 the Champions League.
00:10 Ahead of the curve their new owners plotted,
00:12 they feel they have a man, a plan,
00:14 and the fans to sustain it, plus a sovereign wealth fund.
00:18 They're not here to be popular, they're here to compete.
00:20 This is the story of Newcastle United's transformation
00:23 and the journey they need to go on next.
00:25 The words used in this video are taken
00:26 from our 13-page Newcastle United feature
00:29 that appears in issue 356 of 442 Magazine.
00:31 Yes!
00:34 Screamed Eddie Howe, thrusting a clenched right hand
00:36 into the air on a late May afternoon at Stamford Bridge.
00:39 A sweaty, sunburned, occasionally topless
00:41 Newcastle United away end responds with the same sentiment.
00:45 On the final day of the 2022-23 campaign,
00:48 Howe was punching a full stop to a remarkable journey
00:50 that has seen the magpies boss and the club's new owners
00:52 transform the team from winless renegation fodder
00:55 to fourth in the Premier League table.
00:57 The door to the Champions League had been unlocked,
00:59 and it took just 18 months.
01:01 Howe had spent most of that time straight batting
01:03 the difficult questions about the club's investment
01:05 from Saudi Arabia, staying balanced
01:07 throughout the highs and lows.
01:08 As he walked across the pitch to applaud the fans
01:10 after the full-time whistle at Chelsea,
01:12 he exploded for just a moment,
01:14 the emotion at his achievement briefly visible.
01:17 Newcastle are a club well acquainted with Nadir's.
01:20 One of the most pronounced and recent
01:22 came at a moist Molyneux in October 2021.
01:25 Two blasts of Wolves Eurodance goal music
01:27 sandwiched a rare Geoff Henrick goal for the magpies,
01:29 as We Want Brucey Out chant screated
01:32 another lacklustre defeat.
01:33 The chant had been an audible staple,
01:35 but much of a miserable start to a league campaign
01:37 that was only seven games old.
01:39 No wins, three draws, four defeats, 16 goals conceded.
01:44 It was match number 999 as a manager for Steve Bruce,
01:47 and he was in a real emergency situation.
01:49 The magpies sat bottom of the table,
01:51 having battled relegation during the previous season too,
01:54 eventually finishing 12th.
01:56 Matthew Raisbeck, lead commentator for BBC Radio Newcastle,
01:58 travelled back from the game that evening by rail.
02:01 "They'd given up," he tells 442,
02:03 recalling Newcastle's soaked support.
02:05 "There was one lad, I remember it well,
02:07 "who told me that the season was over,
02:09 "they were going down,
02:10 "and he wanted them to get relegated
02:12 "because it would hurt Mike Ashley,
02:14 "and that was all he had left."
02:15 Five days later, Ashley was gone.
02:18 Cairns?
02:19 It had previously become code among supporters,
02:21 a one-word question posed after every update
02:24 that contained even a semblance of hope
02:26 that a takeover was happening.
02:28 The Toon Army were under starters' orders to celebrate,
02:30 but for months, their Cairns hadn't left the fridge.
02:33 An indication of the desire among supporters
02:35 for change in ownership came via a poll
02:37 held by the club's supporters' trust.
02:39 93.8% of members voted in favour of a takeover
02:42 being greenlit by the Premier League.
02:45 Newcastle's defeat at Wolves marked 18 months
02:47 since a price of £305 million had been agreed with Ashley.
02:50 It was finally ready to sell after 14 and a half years.
02:53 But there was a snag.
02:55 Amid a political dispute,
02:56 Saudi Arabia were blocking Qatar's BN Sports network
02:59 from broadcasting in their country.
03:01 BN had exclusively screened the Premier League matches
03:03 across the Middle East and North Africa since 2013,
03:06 and had just renewed their contract
03:07 for almost £400 million.
03:09 Despite Saudi Arabia getting in the way of that TV deal,
03:12 PIF now wanted a seat at the Premier League table
03:14 through Newcastle.
03:15 It was awkward.
03:17 Four days after Newcastle's miserable afternoon at Molineux,
03:19 there was a breakthrough.
03:20 Cairns began trending hard.
03:22 Saudi Arabia had officially lifted
03:24 their four-year restriction on BN Sports
03:27 and resolved to close pirate websites
03:28 who were streaming the Premier League illegally.
03:31 Cafes and restaurants across Saudi Arabia
03:32 began showing BN,
03:34 and the broadcaster was approached by Saudi Arabia
03:36 to settle a looming legal case
03:38 that BN had been claiming close to £750 million in damages.
03:43 Within 24 hours, the Premier League approved the takeover,
03:46 having received legally binding assurances
03:48 that the Saudi state would not control Newcastle.
03:51 But it left many questions.
03:52 How would Saudi Arabia's human rights record
03:54 reflect on Newcastle?
03:55 Would the league explain the legally binding assurances?
03:58 Would Newcastle be signing Kylian Mbappe?
04:00 And what about Steve Bruce?
04:03 An international break separated Newcastle's
04:05 wet afternoon at Wolves in their first post-takeover match.
04:08 Bruce was still in the dugout.
04:10 He'd had a brief meeting with Staveley a few days earlier
04:12 and been told to prepare for the game as normal.
04:15 Supporter group War Flags,
04:16 who crowdfund vast TIFO displays in sides in James' Park,
04:20 hadn't produced anything for a home match day since 2019.
04:23 When Rafa Benitez left, they left too.
04:26 Instead, they'd been sporadically producing
04:27 barbed protest displays outside the stadium
04:30 in lieu of poor on-pitch performances under Bruce.
04:33 With Ashley gone, War Flags were back,
04:35 finding inspiration for their return display
04:37 via an unlikely source.
04:39 Big River by Jimmy Nail barely tickled the top 20
04:42 when it was released in 1995.
04:43 The song is an emotional eulogy,
04:45 reflecting back to the height
04:46 of Newcastle's thriving shipbuilding industry.
04:49 Dire Straits frontman Jordi Mark-Nopfla
04:51 performs guitar on the track,
04:53 which laments local decline
04:54 but ends on a touching note of hope.
04:57 'Cause this is a mighty town built upon solid ground,
05:00 and everything they've tried so hard to kill,
05:02 we will rebuild.
05:04 Among Mark Pye's fans,
05:05 it nailed the sentiment of the moment.
05:08 Pre-match emotion further ignited
05:10 when Callum Wilson put Newcastle ahead after two minutes,
05:13 but it was sobered by the visiting team that day.
05:15 Bruce's 1,000th game in charge as manager,
05:18 Tottenham won 3-2.
05:19 Three days later, the Newcastle boss was sacked.
05:22 With Ashley gone,
05:23 the new owners were not content to battle relegation.
05:25 "Do we want to win the Premier League
05:27 "within five to 10 years?
05:28 "Yes," Stavely told reporters on day one of the new year.
05:31 Eddie Howe's first day as Newcastle manager
05:34 began with two cones 10 metres apart,
05:36 running trainers rather than boots,
05:38 and a series of ever-quickening beeps.
05:40 The new boss was looking under the bonnet
05:41 of the squad he inherited via the bleep test,
05:44 most commonly done on the first day of pre-season.
05:47 Footage shared on the club's YouTube channel
05:48 showed players such as Sean Longstaff,
05:50 Dwight Gale and Jamal Lassells
05:51 pushed to level 15 of the test.
05:54 Anything above 13 is considered excellent.
05:56 Howe's prognosis was positive.
05:58 "They're a fit group,
05:59 "but I think we can top that up," he said.
06:01 John Joe Shelby recalled climbing into bed
06:03 by 8 p.m. each night during the first week of the new regime.
06:06 Such was the increased load.
06:08 Two days after the beep tests,
06:09 Howe stood on the playing surface
06:10 inside an empty St. James' Park,
06:12 wearing a smart, slim-fitting black suit and thin grey tie.
06:15 He'd spent the previous 48 hours
06:17 sowing the first seeds of development among his squad
06:19 at the club's Benton training base.
06:21 There was a throatiness to Howe's voice
06:23 as he spoke to the press.
06:24 He acknowledged he'd done a lot of shouting
06:26 during his first two days of training.
06:28 Messages like, "No jogging, train as we play,"
06:30 and "If you think you're maxed out, you're not,"
06:32 had echoed around Benton.
06:34 Howe told the media that everything felt right
06:36 to accept the job as Newcastle boss.
06:38 Questions on Saudi Arabia were met with a response
06:40 that he was only there to discuss football.
06:43 His new team were winless after 11 games,
06:45 five points from safety.
06:47 At his early presses, Howe would say how impressed he was
06:49 with the players he'd inherited,
06:50 one local writer tells 442.
06:53 "I remember on one occasion, when cameras were off,
06:55 "he stressed he was not just offering cheap platitudes.
06:58 "He genuinely meant it."
06:59 Ahead of Howe's first game in charge at home to Brentford,
07:02 club doctor Paul Catterson strode towards him
07:04 at the training ground.
07:05 "I saw the doc walking across the pitch,
07:07 "and I was like, 'Oh no, he's coming for me,'"
07:10 Howe later said.
07:11 "I was like, 'For (beep) sake.'
07:13 "It was an absolute disaster."
07:15 Howe had tested positive for COVID
07:17 and would spend his first match isolating in a hotel room
07:19 at the Hilton on Gateshead Quayside.
07:22 Newcastle drew 3-3 in a chaotic game,
07:24 but other results meant they fell
07:25 to rock bottom of the league.
07:27 After Brentford came a routine loss away at Arsenal
07:29 before a Tuesday night showdown at home to Norwich.
07:31 There was 25 games left,
07:33 but it felt like a relegation decider.
07:35 After nine minutes, Newcastle were down to 10 men.
07:37 Dekeiran Clarke was sent off for a professional foul.
07:40 Federico Fernandes was called off the bench
07:42 to help Newcastle salvage something.
07:44 They drew 1-1.
07:45 It was something.
07:46 Clarke's misjudgment may have had a bigger impact
07:48 on one Newcastle player than most.
07:50 Joe Linton dropped from forward into midfield
07:52 for the rest of the match.
07:53 Up until that point, the 40 million pound striker
07:55 had managed just seven goals in 44 Premier League games
07:58 and rarely looked comfortable.
07:59 In midfield, he smashed into tackles,
08:01 protecting the ball and linking defence with attack expertly.
08:05 He left the stadium with the Man of the Match award.
08:07 After that, he became the new Pielo,
08:08 former Newcastle United defender Federico Fernandes tells 442.
08:12 Joey came in as a nine, then played on the wing,
08:14 but he has the physicality to run big distances.
08:17 He's Brazilian, so he has the quality.
08:19 For me, football is about moments.
08:21 It was crazy because it was a tactical move
08:23 that Eddie made because of the game,
08:24 but that moment was so beautiful to see.
08:27 Overnight, Newcastle fans went from complaining
08:29 about Joe Linton's price tag
08:30 to singing that he only cost 40 million.
08:32 This summer, he scored on his senior debut for Brazil
08:35 from midfield.
08:36 Newcastle had a new midfielder and a foothold,
08:38 plus another winnable game against Burnley
08:41 four days later back as James' Park,
08:43 which had been supercharged by now.
08:45 It delivered their first league win of the season
08:47 at the 15th attempt.
08:48 Newcastle had to wait seven weeks for their next win though.
08:51 After the Burnley triumph,
08:52 their next six matches in all competitions
08:54 ended in four defeats and 14 goals conceded.
08:57 They'd finished 2021 having conceded 80 times
09:00 in the calendar year, an unwanted Premier League record.
09:03 Then they lost at home to League One Cambridge
09:05 in the FA Cup third round.
09:07 It was new signing Kieran Trippie his debut.
09:09 He could be excused for wondering
09:10 what the hell he signed up for.
09:11 We of course have a life sentence without parole,
09:14 popular fansite nufc.com lamented.
09:17 A fortnight later, the Magpies travelled to Ellen Road.
09:20 Newcastle didn't deserve to win.
09:21 Martin Dubravka pulled off two or three saves,
09:23 Leeds missed chance after chance,
09:25 and Newcastle showed real grit
09:27 and a new kind of hardness that they developed under Howe,
09:29 where they can't be bullied
09:30 and the opposition crowd doesn't bother them.
09:32 John Joe Shelby scored a free kick in the second half
09:34 and Newcastle held on for a huge 1-0 win at Ellen Road.
09:38 The next day, the whole squad flew to Riyadh
09:40 for a week of warm weather training.
09:42 A football decision said Howe.
09:44 Amnesty International's UK chief executive,
09:46 Sacha Desmoukos, view was that it will prove once again
09:49 that sports washing crimes is the name of the game here,
09:52 not football.
09:53 The trip was controversial,
09:54 but the benefits of the seven-day excursion were significant.
09:57 Days after landing back in Newcastle,
09:59 the squad had three new teammates,
10:00 defenders Matt Target and Dan Byrne,
10:02 plus Brazilian midfielder Bruno Gumeres,
10:05 the latter a flagship signing from Lyon,
10:07 costing around £40m.
10:08 It took Newcastle's January transfer window spend
10:11 to nearly £100m,
10:12 combined the outlay across all 14 windows under Mike Ashley,
10:15 and it totaled only a fraction more.
10:18 Gumeres' impact would prove seismic,
10:19 and not just on the pitch.
10:21 The Club Insider tells 442 that the Brazilians' arrival
10:23 added energy to the day-to-day mood of the training centre
10:26 and brought compatriot Joe Linton further out of his shell.
10:29 The pair had never met before,
10:30 but have since acted as the best men at each other's weddings.
10:33 With fresh additions in their ranks,
10:35 Newcastle embarked on a run that saw them win five games
10:37 and draw once,
10:38 moving them 10 points clear of the relegation zone.
10:41 The final home game of the season was a glimpse
10:43 of what was capable under Howe.
10:45 "F***ing embarrassing,"
10:46 screamed Mikel Arteta after a 2-0 loss
10:49 that ruined Arsenal's chances of making the top four.
10:51 "They were 10,000 times better than us,"
10:53 continued the Gunners boss,
10:54 in a dressing room rant captured by Amazon documentary cameras.
10:58 The night was a celebration of Howe's miracle.
11:00 Newcastle reunited again.
11:02 The momentum generated would send them hurtling
11:04 into the 2022/23 season with unstoppable force.
11:08 In the beginning of last season,
11:09 Pep Guardiola was in one of his better moods
11:11 as he addressed media after a match at St James' Park.
11:14 Perhaps that was out of relief.
11:16 Manchester City had fought back from 3-1 down to salvage a point.
11:19 "Newcastle has everything," Guardiola told media.
11:22 "They have pace, they have quality,
11:23 they made it very physical.
11:25 It's a very difficult place to come.
11:26 Newcastle was so aggressive, we didn't have control.
11:30 Newcastle's summer had perhaps not been as busy as expected.
11:33 Goalkeeper Nick Pope and defender Botman arrived
11:35 for a combined £45m.
11:37 Matt Targert's loan was turned into a £15m permanent deal,
11:40 but that was largely it.
11:42 Newcastle's new owners were taking financial fair play seriously.
11:45 There was wriggle room, though, for one more summer deal.
11:48 PIF governor and Newcastle chairman Yasser El-Rumyan
11:50 had been a sporadic matchday presence at St James' Park,
11:53 but he was inside the stadium to watch Wilson
11:55 limp off against Manchester City,
11:57 and he gave the word.
11:58 "Do something big."
12:00 Five days later, Newcastle broke their transfer record
12:02 to sign Alexander Isak for around £60m.
12:05 Four days after that, Isak opened the scoring
12:07 for Newcastle at Anfield.
12:09 Roberto Firmino equalised before Liverpool's rhythm
12:11 was interrupted by some dubious ailments
12:13 suffered by Howe's men,
12:14 with the manager later admitting,
12:16 "We want to slow the game down."
12:18 The hosts eventually scored a 98th-minute winner
12:21 as both benches clashed.
12:22 Police intervention was required,
12:23 and Newcastle were viciously booed off.
12:26 "My ideal is that we're booed off every week
12:28 when we go to away grounds," Howe said.
12:30 "You don't want to be popular.
12:31 We're here to win, we're here to compete,
12:33 and we'll do whatever it takes."
12:34 Newcastle wouldn't lose again in the league
12:36 for almost six months.
12:38 A few weeks later, a looping ball fell out of the sky
12:40 and onto Miguel Almiron's left foot
12:42 in the corner of the 18-yard box
12:43 at Fulham's Craven Cottage.
12:45 In the blink of an eye,
12:46 the Paraguayan hit it instinctively.
12:48 Newcastle were on their way to a 4-1 victory.
12:50 It was the first day of October,
12:52 but the Goal of the Month award had already been settled.
12:54 Almiron would be named Premier League Player of the Month too.
12:57 "It felt good before then,
12:59 but the goals hadn't quite come," Almiron told 442.
13:02 "It was a question of confidence,
13:03 and it began with scoring twice at Fulham."
13:06 Almiron would score seven goals in eight games
13:08 before the season paused for the World Cup.
13:10 In Steve Bruce's last campaign at Newcastle,
13:12 Almiron had found the net just four times,
13:14 a square peg in a round hole.
13:16 In Howe's front-foot system, he was born again.
13:18 When the January transfer window opened,
13:20 the club were spectators.
13:22 Towards the end of the month, though, there was movement.
13:23 John Joe Shelby and Chris Wood joined Nottingham Forest,
13:26 freeing up money and wages for Newcastle
13:27 to sign Anthony Gordon from Everton for £40m.
13:30 An exciting deal for an exciting English player,
13:33 but there was a bigger talking point on Tyneside.
13:35 "I'm happy, I'm happy, I'm going to get me suit measured,
13:40 come on, lads!"
13:42 shouted Dan Byrne, paying homage to a famous quote from Paul Gascoigne
13:46 after the Geordie had helped Tottenham reach the FA Cup final in 1991.
13:50 Newcastle had just won a semi-final of their own,
13:52 defeating Southampton 3-1 on aggregate,
13:54 and were into the League Cup final, their first major final since 1999.
13:57 It was emotional, perhaps too emotional.
14:00 The week leading up to the final against Manchester United
14:02 was a long one for Newcastle's players.
14:04 Extra media duties, training, ticket clamour and travelling
14:07 were all prefaced by a tidal wave of emotion heaped on them
14:10 by a fan base who'd been waiting 68 years for a major domestic trophy.
14:14 Was this the moment?
14:15 As it turned out, the League Cup final was over as a contest
14:18 once Marvis Rashford's goal deflected past Newcastle's third-choice keeper,
14:21 Luis Carrios, to make it 2-0, six minutes before half-time.
14:25 It was the club's first real test under their new ownership.
14:28 They failed.
14:29 In April, Newcastle sat a new exam that they'd pass in breathtaking fashion.
14:33 It was fourth versus fifth in the Premier League table.
14:36 Newcastle, three points ahead of Tottenham, with a game in hand,
14:39 but a loss could have been hugely damaging to their Champions League hopes.
14:42 After 21 minutes, Newcastle led the so-called Champions League decider 5-0,
14:46 and would eventually triumph 6-1.
14:48 Newcastle had made a statement.
14:50 "Champions League qualification was secured with a game to spare,
14:53 thanks to a 0-0 draw at home to Leicester.
14:55 "Last season we were only thinking about saving ourselves from relegation,"
14:58 Miguel Almiron told 442.
15:00 "With the new players, coach and owners, the chips have changed for this club.
15:04 "The mentality is totally different.
15:06 "We're now thinking about bigger objectives,
15:07 and that's because of the work we're putting in.
15:09 "When you win, everything feels better, but we're also sure of ourselves.
15:13 "The coach has taught us a lot."
15:15 Prior to the game, Eddie Howe was asked if he'd even allowed himself
15:18 to say the words 'Champions League'.
15:20 "I can't pronounce it," he joked.
15:22 Now, with Newcastle assured of a top-four finish, he wasn't so tongue-tied.
15:26 "We've shot ahead of schedule," he admitted,
15:28 before acknowledging there were "big challenges ahead".
15:31 Newcastle were a Champions League club again.
15:33 It had been 20 years since he could say that.
15:35 [BLANK_AUDIO]