Win the FA Cup unless we can win the Champions League!

We wanted to get a snapshot of what Newcastle United fans think.

Three months into the season and seventeen games played in three competitions so far.

Now in the November international break, Newcastle United fans will see their team win eight games, draw three and lose six.

These results summarize a start to the season with many ups and downs.

Plenty to talk about when we ask some of Newcastle United’s regular/irregular contributors to The Mag to give us their thoughts on the season so far, plus what will happen as we move forward.

Next up is Matt Busby, who said to Joe Harvey… while answering the questions.

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

Great – new signings have strengthened the squad, Champions League football is back at SJP and another Wembley appearance is on the horizon

Frustrated – with the poor league form and FFP in general

Anxious – for the casual fan, too many of which are overpriced, the voting process is opaque and tickets are available for schools in Dundee, for example.

Three words to describe Newcastle United now?

Transformed – on the pitch we are light years away from the days of Mike Ashley, when ambition was suppressed and finishing 17th was the main goal. Our first domestic trophy in 70 years proves the turnaround.

Shambolic – behind the scenes we have seen senior staff leave and it has taken a while for them to be replaced. There has recently been talk of appointing a technical accountant to guide us through the FFP minefield, surely four years too late for such an appointment?

Commercial – with each passing day, we hear stories of more and more people being overpriced and ticket prices skyrocketing.

Alexander Isak – Time to forgive and forget…? Please discuss it.

Forgotten, yes. Forgive, not on your nelly.

How a guy can go from scoring the winning goal and helping to secure the club’s first domestic trophy, to being vilified and reviled by most people on Tyneside, in the space of a few months is simply incredible. His legacy is forever tarnished and it didn’t have to be that way. I hope his career stagnates and he doesn’t win anything at Anfield.

If you had to choose. A win against Sunderland but losing to Fulham in the Carabao Cup quarter-final, or losing to Sunderland and progressing to the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup?

If you can let me know what happens in the semi-finals and finals (depending on what happens in the semi-finals of course), I will contact you.

Would winning the Carabao Cup this season BUT finishing outside the top six of the Premier League be a success or a failure?

Unbridled success. Winning trophies is what it’s all about for me.

By hand: What’s your best guess (not a hope!) of where Newcastle United will finish this season in the Premier League, Champions League, FA Cup and League Cup, how well they will realistically do in each of these?

I think we will win one of the cup matches and finish in the top ten. As above, that would be a success in my opinion.

In order: which six NUFC players have been the most impressive so far this 2025/26 season?

Tonali
Woltemade
Thiaw
Guimaraes
Barnes
Murphy

Which six NUFC players do you think will have proven to be the best players by the end of the 2025/26 season?

Tonali
Woltemade
Thiaw
Guimaraes
He warned
Gordon

Eight months ago, Eddie Howe lifted Newcastle’s first trophy in 56 years, and two months later secured a second Champions League qualification in three years. Some Newcastle fans now appear to be questioning his stance. What do you think of Eddie Howe and how much time has he deserved to get his league position in order and beyond, or not?

The guy walks on water if you ask me. Completely safe.

What do you think of how the summer transfer window was handled by Newcastle United?

It seemed unconstructive and shabby at times, and it seemed to me that Eddie Howe was left to his own devices as the leader of the Isak case. Whether it was actually the case, who knows? Despite the appeal of Champions League football, we struggled to attract players who ended up elsewhere, so perhaps the blocker is our wage structure or a lack of familiarity with the club, the region or our fanbase?

How much do you think the fact that Newcastle United had no CEO or sporting director contributed to NUFC only signing one player (Elanga) who had a good pre-season?

It must be a big factor, right? As above the club does not appear to be run very professionally.

What is your assessment of how each of the six summer signings will be rated after they have all finished their careers at Newcastle United? In any case – Thiaw, Ramsdale, Ramsey, Woltemade, Elanga and Wissa should be seen as one of three choices – A success, OK done, Failure.

Based on what I’ve seen, I think the German duo of Woltemade and Thiaw will be a huge success. I hope the same for Wissa, but obviously haven’t seen him in action yet. I think with the others it will be a case of well done. Elanga has not yet set the heath on fire and that was quite disappointing. He has to do better and maybe he will if Tino comes back into the wing and he has to hit Wissa in the middle. Ramsey which I wasn’t too sure about anyway (Morgan Rogers would have been a better signing) and Ramsdale is unlikely to be featured enough?

What do you see as three positive things for Newcastle United so far this season?

Progress in the cup competition. Only Man Utd have beaten us in this completion in 90 minutes for a few years now and I would love to see us make the trophy our own.

Win Champions League matches. Having been placed in the group of death the season before the Swiss model replaced the previous format, it is clear that when Newcastle United play the best of the rest, we are more than capable. Don’t forget that the two teams that came out of the group of death made it to the semi-finals, with Dortmund coming in second.

Woltemade’s goals. Signing very late in the window and throwing in at the deep end due to Yohan Wissa’s injury, the German has not disappointed.

What do you think are the three negative things for Newcastle United so far this season?

A gloomy form of competition. We can’t buy an away win and let’s face it, it was a poor start to our Premier League campaign.

Injuries to Wissa, Livramento and Hall (plus a few others). I don’t think we’ve fielded our strongest XI yet and while the bench is more resilient, the games are coming quickly and quickly and we could really use it if the walking wounded return to first-team action.

Goals conceded in injury time. This is of course related to my point above about the dismal competition format. We lost two games in injury time at SJP that we should have at least drawn. Very disappointing.

Sunderland are now back in the same division and are currently ahead of NUFC, your opinion?

Only a fool would argue that having them in the same league means six easy points. Given their home form and our away form, I’m not looking forward to the derby at their home. That said, I expect them to reach a sticking point at some point and over 38 games I have no doubt we will finish above them.

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

Another trophy. While I’m not sure the feeling of last March when the referee blew for time can be properly replicated, I would love to see a repeat of the performance.

What do you see as the minimum you need to achieve next season?

A trophy or Champions League qualification.

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

Man City, Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Man Utd, Aston Villa

Leeds, Burnley, Wolves

With NUFC now having won a trophy… has that changed your priorities at all, with the club now finding a balance between winning Champions League football on a regular basis and trying to win cups?

No. It’s the exact opposite. Winning trophies is what it’s all about. Actually, I would have preferred to qualify for the Europa League this season because I think we would have won it. Last year, Spurs finished 17th and won a European trophy, while Aston Villa gave the eventual Champions League winners their toughest assignment but still exited the Champions League at the quarter-finals. I know what I would have preferred.

Would you rather finish all three seasons in the top four BUT win nothing, or finish all three seasons in the middle of the table AND win the FA Cup in one of the three?

Win the FA Cup unless we can win the Champions League!

What do you make of the fact that we are now over four years after the takeover and still no plans have been announced for a new training ground, nor for a much larger capacity stadium (either brand new or larger capacity St James’ Park)?

Worried. As above, it appears that the club is not run on a professional basis, but is becoming increasingly businesslike, so to speak. Staying at St James’ Park will require significant investment to expand, but in the absence of formal announcements, one wonders whether the new owners will want to increase capacity there or elsewhere? It’s still three years until the European Championships, where SJP will host five matches, so while I can understand why there won’t be any construction work on the existing stadium anytime soon, surely that doesn’t prevent an announcement about expansion plans or a brand new stadium?

If Newcastle United were to look to the transfer market in January to strengthen the squad, what do you see as the priority (or priorities…)?

More creativity in the middle of the park. Younger legs at the back, another productive striker and a top goalkeeper.

Would you say winning the Carabao Cup last season has made you more satisfied, or now makes you more desperate for the next one?

I’m greedy. I want more and more. As a football club, Newcastle United have massively underperformed in my lifetime (born in ’69). If you include the ‘near misses’ since the Fairs Cup win, I reckon we’d have a roll of honor with two Premier League titles, three FA Cups, three League Cups and a few more European trophies in my lifetime. Not too sloppy, eh? But back to reality and Newcastle United should waste no time between winning the 2025 League Cup and the next trophy.