The 2022/23 campaign started with a song. The mood at the Magpies' pre-season training camp in Austria was buoyant, though there were some nerves in their mountainside base near Salzburg as a few members of Newcastle's squad prepared to serenade their teammates and staff as part of a forfeit for losing a go-karting race. Miguel Almirón was the star turn, aided by some strong vocals from Mark Gillespie, as a rendition of I Want It That Way brought applause and laughter, in largely equal measures, from the watching crowd.
It set the tone (kind of) for what has been a terrific, rejuvenating season for Newcastle United. Back in the summer, Eddie Howe's revolution had yet to really start; he had reinvigorated the club in his first six months, hoisting them from where they were dangling above the Championship trapdoor to the brink of a brighter horizon.
Matt Targett had played his part in that revival as a full back on loan from Aston Villa, and his move was first to be made permanent. Goalkeeper Nick Pope followed, bought from Burnley, while the eagerly-anticipated capture of centre back Sven Botman was confirmed just ahead of the start of a pre-season which brought wins over Atalanta and Athletic Bilbao, among others, and a flurry of goals – six in all – for United's own Backstreet Boy Almirón.
"More than anything, really, I feel a lot more confident. The manager has shown more faith in me too," the Paraguayan told UNITED in July, and in those early autumn days, that belief showed. The Magpies began their Premier League season with a 2-0 home win over newly-promoted Nottingham Forest and while improvements were clear they stuttered along until October, when some Miggy magic got things going at Fulham.
The former Atlanta winger's brace at Craven Cottage helped United record a 4-1 win and it was the first time, really, that his side's freewheeling attacking setup paid tangible dividends. Almirón's first that day was stunning, a looping volley past a helpless Bernd Leno, and it kickstarted Newcastle's season; they went unbeaten that month, thrashing Brentford 5-1 and Aston Villa 4-0 along the way, earning Almirón a hat-trick of awards – the Premier League's player of the month and goal of the month prizes, plus the PFA fans' player of the month gong. Howe, too, was rewarded, named the top flight's manager of the month.
A truncated November, due to the start of the World Cup in Qatar, was similarly fruitful, with two league victories and a penalty shoot-out victory over Crystal Palace in the third round of the Carabao Cup. Having already seen off Tranmere in the second round, there were burgeoning hopes of – finally – a good run in a cup competition, and the mid-season pause did little to halt the Magpies' momentum; they returned pre-Christmas, following a trip to Riyadh and friendly wins over Al-Hilal and Rayo Vallecano, to see off Bournemouth in the fourth round and pick up a further four points to lift them to third at the turn of the New Year.
The contrast to previous campaigns of struggle and worry was stark. To be in the top four, nine points off top spot, going into 2023 was a little misleading – there had been no Premier League games for six weeks while Bruno Guimarães, Fabian Schär, Callum Wilson, Kieran Trippier and Pope competed for the biggest prize of all in Qatar – but the prospect of spending the remainder of the term looking up and not down was the stuff of tonic to supporters.
"It's certainly better than (being at) the other end – I can tell you that," said Howe, who had scaled similar heights in the EFL during his time at Bournemouth. "It's slightly different. I have been at the right end of other leagues, and I think although by name it's different, the situation is the same. You're dealing with a different kinds of emotions, different kinds of pressures and different kinds of reactions and dealings with your squad – the challenges are different.
"We have to be very focused, and concentrate on the delivery of our training sessions in a different way to if we weren’t getting results. I think we're hopefully clever enough to analyse that situation and get the best out of the squad, and keep them concentrated on what's important and how our actions and attitude can affect the games going forward."
The bandwagon rolled on into January. Leicester City were comfortably dispatched at St. James' in the last eight of the Carabao Cup, with the sight of one of their own, Dan Burn, marauding down the left flank, cutting inside and burying the opener in front of the Gallowgate End bringing sending the famous old ground into raptures and providing a perfect montage moment for the end-of-season highlights reel.
That cup odyssey was to get even better. A semi-final over two legs against Southampton gave Howe's men a real chance at booking their place in a first Wembley final for 24 years, and it was an opportunity they didn't pass up. Joelinton's goal gave them a narrow lead in the first leg on the south coast but back at St. James' – back home – Sean Longstaff grabbed the tie by the scruff of its neck, scoring twice to send his club, and his city, to the final.
"Driving in that night was a different feeling. I locked eyes with Burny and I thought we were going to shed a little tear together, to be honest," Longstaff told The Guardian.
"It was such a special night and to score two goals is a memory for a lifetime. Burny grabbed me both times and said how proud he was of me. It meant the world."
Burn, it is fair to say, shared that sentiment. "I'm happy! I'm happy! I'm gan to get me suit measured!" yelled the towering defender, interrupting Longstaff's post-match NUFC TV interview to invoke the spirit of Paul Gascoigne. "Come on the lads!"
Performances of that ilk earned 25-year-old local lad Longstaff the FUN88 player of the month gong and in a way it was the midfielder's ceaseless running, harrying and general willingness to battle that epitomised this side's winter of great promise. This was Longstaff's best season to date and a sign that he could become the midfielder many hoped he would eventually be when he broke through under Rafa Benítez in the 2018/19 campaign, before he was cut down by injury. His relationship with Howe was key – "he's saved my Newcastle career," he later said – and his form continued.
January's excellence meant February would be a month to look forward to; the prospect of a first cup final since the 1999 FA Cup loss to Manchester United at the old Wembley sent Tyneside into fervour. Tickets were sought and trips were planned but in the meantime, the Magpies had a European push to maintain. Anthony Gordon and Harrison Ashby both arrived to supplement the squad at the end of the January transfer window but successive draws with West Ham and Bournemouth and a 2-0 pre-final home loss to Liverpool cooled the temperature somewhat, especially when goalkeeper Pope – outstanding all season between the sticks – was red-carded in that defeat, incurring a one-match ban at the cruellest of times.
That led to an episode probably destined to become pub quiz fodder of the future as German goalkeeper Loris Karius, signed as a free agent the previous September, became the talk of the town for a couple of weeks. With Pope suspended, Karl Darlow having been loaned to Hull City and Martin Dúbravka cup-tied following a couple of outings during his temporary early-season spell at final opponents Manchester United, Karius was primed to make his Newcastle debut in the grandest of surroundings.
With a trophy on the line, Karius stepped out and turned in a stellar display at Wembley. It was to be a fruitless trip – Casemiro and Marcus Rashford's first half strikes put paid to that – but for the travelling supporters who packed Trafalgar Square the night before and then turned their half of the stadium into a shimmering black and white sea the day after, this was a tantalising taste of better times; the kind they hope will one day, soon, become regular occasions.
"I think the only way you can change mentalities and mindsets is to be consistent with your message and your work," Howe told UNITED last month. "Around the cup final with the players, it was a case of sticking to the basics. We weren't looking at it as, 'haven't we done amazingly to get to the cup final?' We were looking at it as almost like we expected to be there, and that's how I wanted the players to approach it. If you build up that one game too much, it can have a negative effect on performance. We want this to be the norm."
A truncated March brought little initial respite for Howe’s charges. A trip to Manchester City a week on from Wembley wasn't ideal but they followed that loss with a gritty 2-1 win over Wolves at St. James' and a more thrilling victory by the same scoreline at Forest, where club record signing Alexander Isak – who had missed much of his first year with United with injury – came to the fore. A debut goal at Liverpool in August hinted at his talent but, fully fit following a lengthy thigh problem, his turn at the City Ground was exemplary. His equaliser, deftly cushioned home on the volley, was a beauty and his 93rd-minute winner from the penalty spot was unerring.
That left Newcastle in fifth place as they headed off for a training camp in Dubai and, just as it had following a similar trip in 2021/22, positivity followed them home. United became a battering ram in April, netting a remarkable 22 goals, with a 2-0 win – revenge – over Manchester United kicking them off. A 5-1 demolition of West Ham came days later before a 2-1 triumph at Brentford with slightly rougher edges, in which the Magpies came from behind to win thanks to Isak's eyecatching clincher.
Pope had saved a penalty that day and Callum Wilson had seen an effort disallowed but with three goals already for the month, the number nine was beginning to make his presence felt again. A 3-0 reverse at Aston Villa proved just a blip because their next outing was one for the ages. At home to managerless Tottenham, United pressed, probed and pummelled the visitors in an extraordinary opening 20 minutes at St. James' Park. Isak and Jacob Murphy netted two apiece, Joelinton chipped in with one and then, later, Wilson prodded home after coming off the bench to wrap up a 6-1 win that will live long in the memory.
They just couldn't stop scoring; four more followed at Everton, including another two for Wilson and a tap-in for Murphy after a delicious assist from Isak, who danced down the left and bamboozled a string of Toffees defenders before squaring it. Southampton were then dispatched comfortably, making it six wins from seven and elevating them to third, with five games to play.
"As a striker, I always have that self-belief," Wilson told NUFC TV. "You go through spells in seasons – anybody will do that, where you go games without scoring and you're wondering where your next goal is coming from. At the minute, it feels like everything I'm touching is going in, which is a nice place to be."
Another brace for Wilson followed in a 2-2 draw at Leeds and then, after the demolition of Brighton at St. James', the Magpies reached the endgame of a season that promised plenty – and delivered too. A goalless draw at home to Leicester in May secured Champions League football for the 2023/24 season and afterwards, Howe could finally breathe again.
"I'm so proud of all the players, staff, owners, everyone," he told NUFC TV. "I think you can see this season the whole club's been united. It's been an amazing feeling to be part of that and to experience that at the training ground every day."
Whatever happens from hereon in, it has been a transformational year for Newcastle United. This, it is hoped, is still just the start.
