Pre-season at Newcastle United was completely disrupted by the you-know-who saga.
This was ultimately a major factor in Eddie Howe not getting the key early signings he had asked the club to ensure was the case.
Ultimately, only one of the six summer signings had a pre-season with their new Newcastle United teammates.
Furthermore, Newcastle United were subsequently hit by numerous injuries, including a serious injury to Yoane Wissa before he had even kicked a ball for his new club.
The fact that so many injuries have affected the same part of the pitch has been self-perpetuating, as players have to return almost as soon as they are fit, with a greater workload than Eddie Howe would certainly want. Unable to manage their minutes optimally and put them aside again.
A knock-on effect of this is that Newcastle United players cannot catch a break, similar to the situation during our last Champions League adventure.
We are all aware (or should be) that we are on a journey and that it will take some time for Newcastle United’s squad to have the depth needed to compete properly on all fronts. At the same time, it is of course still frustrating to see substandard performance and results at times.
However, as Newcastle United fans we must remain patient and together.
Remember where we came from and where Eddie has taken us now.
A real plus from the past week is that we discovered that we have a very good new option at full-back in Lewis Miley. We’ve all known for a while that he is a special talent, but what we didn’t know was how versatile he can be.
Finally, I’m not sure if anyone noticed… but Newcastle United had a number of criminal cases dismissed against Chelsea, and one in particular could only have been more egregious if Antony Gordon had been hit with a baseball bat.
Unfortunately, the only people who didn’t see that as a penalty were referee Andy Madley and VAR Peter Bankes, plus the Chelsea fans.
You accept that sometimes decisions don’t go your way… but for such a clear foul, seemingly warranting only the slightest consideration, when the possibility of the smallest offside margin would have previously lasted five minutes, is hurtful to say the least.
But that is now in the past and we move on.
I’m sure we will use our frustrations as motivation against Manchester United at Old Trafford.
#feel