forAs Sunday 16 March dawns, Newcastle United’s short, medium and long-term future should be considerably clearer. The same day will see Eddie Howe captain his side at Wembley in the Carabao Cup Final or re-watch videos of the previous day’s scheduled Premier League match at home to Crystal Palace. It all depends on the two-part Carabao Cup semi-final against Arsenal, with the first leg taking place in north London on Tuesday evening.
Howe has repeatedly reiterated his “fierce desire” to end a Club Cup drought dating back to 1969 and the European Fairs Cup. “Arsenal is a big game for us,” he said on Monday. “We are under no illusions about how big this season will be for us.”
Given that two of their key players, Bruno Guimarães and Fabian Schar – the only right-footed midfielder – have been suspended for the visit to the Emirates Stadium, it is unsurprising that Mikel Arteta’s title-chasing side will start as favourites. However, even if Newcastle’s hopes of reaching a second Carabao Cup final in three seasons are in tatters, a second Champions League qualification within the same time frame could be just around the corner.
After all, five successive Premier League appearances has succeeded in masking, and perhaps even repairing, the behind-the-scenes cracks that stalled the team’s progress at the start of the season. So much so that with Sandro Tonali dominating the midfield and Alexander Isak scoring freely, Newcastle rose to fifth place. If they manage to walk through the currently wide-open front door to Europe, Howe may be able to retain Isak, Tonali, Guimarães, Joelinton, Anthony Gordon and Sven Botman this summer.
But so much in the short term. By mid-March, the majority Saudi-owned club is expected to finally announce a long-awaited decision on whether or not they plan to spend around £1bn on rebuilding the 65,000-capacity St James’ Park. The alternative is to invest three times this amount and build a new stadium, potentially doubling its revenues, and with a capacity of 75,000 spectators, elsewhere in the city.
Either option would almost certainly lead to months of planning wrangling, not to mention the potential need to share the Stadium of Light with Sunderland while a potential rebuilding process takes place. This may be unpopular in some quarters but there does not appear to be a realistic alternative. Furthermore, if Milan and Inter can share the San Siro, the two northeastern rivals could certainly co-exist for a while.
Howe remains adamant that Newcastle’s much-redeveloped training ground should be considered a temporary home until the new stadium, promised by the Saudis when the kingdom’s Public Investment Fund bought the club in October 2021, is built for that purpose. At the moment, nothing appears to be on the vague horizon, although Brad Miller, Newcastle’s chief operating officer and the man overseeing the stadium decision, is also exploring various potential new training sites.
It is perhaps no coincidence that Miller’s previous experience was in airport expansion. The man who has held senior roles in the East Midlands, Stansted and Manchester may have a key role to play if, as expected, PIF buys a 49% stake in one of the region’s biggest employers, Newcastle Airport. Given that the other 51% is owned by seven local councils, with profits partly used to fund vital local services, a PIF-led multi-billion-pound increase in flights, passengers and cargo could deliver on Saudi Arabia’s major pledges to help raise the bar. Northeast by significantly boosting the regional economy.
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Howe has previously expressed doubts about whether he will remain in charge for enough seasons to not only see the kind of long-term renewal drawn up by the Saudi sales, but also the accompanying run of league titles and European trophies similarly promised. With this latest vision hampered by the Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR) that restrict Newcastle’s spending power until its commercial revenue streams catch up with the owners’ ambition, the manager is keen to become the first English manager to lift the League Cup since Steve McClaren. In 2004 he knows time may be against him on Tyneside.
This perhaps explains why Howe remains unconcerned that his team’s mastery of the kind of street-skills – or use of the game’s slang – that has previously reduced Arteta to an apoplectic state does little to burnish Newcastle’s public image. Recently, on Boxing Day, Aston Villa’s usually polite manager, Unai Emery, was incensed by the antics of Howe’s assistant, Jason Tindall. “I don’t really care what happens outside of Newcastle,” Howe said as he looked to improve his club’s record of just one win in 19 visits to the Emirates, where Martin Dubravka could make one final appearance in goal before joining Saudi Arabia. Arab youth.
“Other teams’ perception of us doesn’t really worry me. Outside opinion almost doesn’t matter to us. We’re here to win and we give everything to win. All we’re doing is getting to the top in elite competitions.