Hello! Welcome to Squig on the Tyne, the semi-regular column about all things Newcastle United. Before we get into it all, a little introduction to me, your excitable Newcastle United fan. I’ve been a fan for as long as I can remember, having seen Champions League nights, Championship Saturdays, and Premier League relegations. So, as you can probably tell, I’m very excited to be a Newcastle fan, and season ticket holder right now.

So let’s start! This first one will take a look at the work Eddie Howe has done towards the end of last year and some hopes/expectations for this season.

In October last year, the takeover finally happened, the reign of Mike Ashley ended and we got taken over by a consortium led by the PiF of Saudi Arabia (I won’t go into the rights/wrongs of this here). Newcastle, still managed by Steve Bruce were winless and in the relegation zone. It would have been typical of Newcastle to become rich and then get relegated. Step forward Edward John Frank Howe.

When Eddie Howe took over in November 2021 Newcastle United were still without a win, by the end of the season Newcastle had won 13 games and finished a comfortable 11th place. A lot of this can be attributed to the money spent in January, but credit really has to go to Howe and his team for getting the best out of certain players. Joelinton has been reformed in midfield, and looks like a player well worth the 40 million price tag. Watching him in games he is unrecognisable to the fella that played up top under Stevie Bruce. Almiron ended last season looking more and more like the Almiron at Atlanta, and even Emil Krafth looked like a right back. The transformation everywhere was incredible, it was exciting going to St James Park during the 2nd half of the season.

Now we move on to this new season, the players have had a full preseason with the new manager, and together with the January signings. I’m feeling positive about this season, and to be perfectly honest I’m more than happy to hopefully not have to look over our shoulder this season. Some pundits say we should be aiming for top 8, but I think I speak for a lot of fans when I say top 10 would be a great achievement.

The owner’s transfer business has been well publicised, from spending £25 million on Chris Wood, or even signing Nick Pope. Our owners can’t go out and splash all the cash, and make huge £100 million signings. That’s all because of FFP and the lack of investment by the previous owner. Yes we didn’t spend much then, but we also didn’t bring much money into the club. In a way we’re still hamstrung by Mike Ashley, but there is a little more wiggle room with signings. I’m super happy with the players we’ve brought in from January onwards, and the owners seem to know what they’re doing. Ideally I’d like another striker and a winger, and hopefully we’ll get one of those over the line by the end of the transfer window.

Finally, I’ll round off by saying that I can’t wait to be back at St James Park, there’s a good feeling around the club, and fans seem to be falling back in love with the game and the players. I’m optimistic ahead of this season, and I’ll check back in, in a few weeks time with some thoughts on how we’ve started. At the time of writing this we’ve played 3 games, 1 win, 2 draws and 3 goals conceded. So already a better start than last year!

Squires can also be found on Twitter as well as on Football Beef – a podcast that squashes the debates surrounding certain footballers.