{"id":13274,"date":"2026-04-24T19:25:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T18:25:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=13274"},"modified":"2026-04-26T00:13:55","modified_gmt":"2026-04-25T23:13:55","slug":"all-in-til-the-end-and-believe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=13274","title":{"rendered":"All in \u2019til the end \u2014 and believe"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"getty embed image\" style=\"background-color:#fff;display:inline-block;font-family:Roboto,sans-serif;color:#a7a7a7;font-size:11px;width:100%;max-width:594px;\"><div style=\"padding:0;margin:0;text-align:left;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/2237946642\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none;display:inline-block;\" rel=\"noopener\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/div><div style=\"overflow:hidden;position:relative;height:0;padding:69.02357% 0 0 0;width:100%;\"><iframe src=\"\/\/embed.gettyimages.com\/embed\/2237946642?et=fsurDvg2RahLxynBOh8J2g&amp;tld=com&amp;sig=xRkC6yvfHoQsXI5yuuZWLak66272BhixWVoAbwCHtLk=&amp;caption=true&amp;ver=1\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" width=\"594\" height=\"410\" style=\"display:inline-block;position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;margin:0;\"><\/iframe><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>And so to the Stadium of Stone, where we host long-standing rivals Newcastle United in Saturday\u2019s early evening Premier League match.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It will be the 199th competitive meeting between the two clubs, dating back to September 2, 1893, when the Geordies were our opponents in our first Football League fixture. The match ended 2-2 in front of 6,000 spectators at the Manor Ground, Plumstead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Much miffed by this result, and still smarting from being placed in the Second Division of the Football League despite applying to go straight into the First, the Tynesiders promised to wreak revenge up north, which they did to the tune of 6-0 in the return fixture at the end of the month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Many correspondents for this fine establishment have regaled us with Newcastle\u2019s origin story and subsequent storied history. Not for the first time, I would particularly commend you to Bath\u2019s previews of the corresponding fixture from&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=10269\" target=\"_blank\">last season<\/a>, and&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=8662\" target=\"_blank\">the one before that<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Shifting sands<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It is Geordie Arabia\u2019s future, not its past, that currently commands attention. In 2021, Saudi Arabia\u2019s sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF), acquired a majority stake in the club, raising hopes on Tyneside for a state oil-wealth-funded bonanza to rival that in the Oilands.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Five years on, Newcastle has enjoyed some success, including winning the 2025 League Cup, its first trophy in over 50 years, but it still appears well short of its goal of establishing itself among Europe\u2019s football elite by 2030. At three places below Sunderland, it isn\u2019t even the top team in England\u2019s North East.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Saudi royal family make their Emirati counterparts look like poor cousins, but the Premier League&#8217;s Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR), introduced in 2013, have constrained Newcastle from making the massive short-term investment in transfers and wages that kick-started City\u2019s rise and that of Abramovich\u2019s Chelsea before that.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Instead, PIF has played it by the book. We\u2019ll let slide the diplomatic lobbying of the UK government to ensure the PL and FA found the {insert your adjective of choice here} Saudi regime fit and proper owners, although after Mike Ashley, that might have been a low bar.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Nonetheless, the new ownership based the club\u2019s long-term development on smart recruitment and sustainable spending rather than on raw financial firepower. The new Squad Cost Ratio (SCR) rule, which will replace PSR from July 1, will create some additional scope for PIF to invest in Newcastle, but not enough to be transformational.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It might even choose not to go that far. The kingdom is re-evaluating its substantial budget allocation for transforming itself into a global sporting power, as it diversifies its economy in preparation for a post-fossil-fuel world (other descriptions of its motivations are available). LIV Golf will bear the brunt of the cuts, but football will get its share.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>How tighter purse strings will affect Newcastle United, whose ownership is an outlier within the Saudi sports portfolio, remains unclear at this point. The Saudis are unlikely to sell such a trophy asset outright, and a bit of fancy footwork in selling St James\u2019 Park to themselves, while partly a PSR accounting dodge, points to a commitment to a stadium revamp. Yet any Geordie still clinging to the hope that Riyadh will go full City or Chelsea to buy success by hook or crook should let go now.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A PIF team due to make its annual visit to the club next week may bring greater clarity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Howe\u2019s he doing?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The struggle that Eddie Howe has had to build on last season\u2019s fifth-placed league finish is far from being solely due to the owners\u2019 refusal to flash the cash.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The protracted Alexander Isak saga got the season off to a poor start. Neither of the new arrivals, Anthony Elanga and Nick Woltemade, has been able to fill Isak\u2019s fleet and prolific boots, either individually or collectively, while Yoane Wissa went in the fetlock early doors and the team\u2019s talisman, Bruno Guimar\u00e3es, tore a hamstring just as the side was gathering some momentum after the turn of the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, with the team plummeting to 14th place in the league with a W12 D6 L15 record, and having lost its last four games in all competitions, starting with a 7-2 CL paddlin\u2019 by Barcelona, and eight of the last eleven, the wheels seem to be more than just spinning (I know, people who live in glass houses, and all that).&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As a result, there is talk of this being the Amersham Ancelotti\u2019s final season at the helm. His participation in next week\u2019s talks with PIF about Newcastle\u2019s summer transfers suggests it won\u2019t be, although in football, never say never.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Even if he stays, he could see his midfield gutted, with Sandro Tonali, Guimar\u00e3es and Anthony Gordon potentially leaving, and his defence lose Tino Livramento and Lewis Hall, either to fund a much-needed rebuild or because they see greener pastures elsewhere.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Keiran Trippier will hang up his boots when his contract expires this summer. Fellow veterans Emil Krafth and Fabian Schar are out of contract then, too, and Dan Burn will be entering the final year of his. So, too, sellable squad players Jacob Murphy, Joe Willock and keeper Nick Pope. That is a lot of potentially moving parts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The opposition<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Newcastle\u2019s players will be familiar enough to the denizens of this fine establishment that I need only outline the team news and Eddie Howe\u2019s likely selection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Joelinton is suspended. Gordon, Krafth, Livramento and Schar are off games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Guimar\u00e3es came off the bench for the final half-hour of last weekend\u2019s 2-1 defeat to Bournemouth after missing a dozen games because of his hamstring injury. Howe will be keen to start his influential playmaker \u2014 still the club\u2019s leading goalscorer and top assists maker despite missing so many matches \u2014 even if he only gets an hour out of him before bringing on Jacob Ramsey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thus, I expect to see Ramsdale, formerly of this parish, in goal, behind a back four of Trippier, Malick Thiaw, Sven Botman and Hall. Five across the middle: Elanga, Tonali, Lewis Miley, Guimar\u00e3es or Ramsey, and Ashley Barnes. William Osula up front.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The bench will have Burn, who has an annoyingly good record against us \u2014 he has been on the losing side in only seven of 16 games with Fulham, Brighton and Newcastle \u2014 along with Willock, Murphy, Woltemade and Wissa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The Arsenal<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jurrrien Timber is out, but Bukayo Saka and Ricardo Calafiori may be in the squad. I doubt either will start. Thus, no changes from last Sunday\u2019s starting XI, although if Saka does start, Benny Blanco could replace Mosquera to get the band back together down the right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Raya<br>Mosquera, Saliba, Gabriel, Hincapi\u00e9<br>Rice, Zubimendi<br>Madueke, \u00d8degaard, Eze<br>Havertz<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The last time a team came to the Emirates and we were not at the top of the league was in Matchweek 5. As it happened, our visit to St. James\u2019 Park in Matchweek 6 propelled us to the top.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We are only off the pinnacle by the second tie-breaker, goals scored. With City playing an FA Cup semi-final against Southampton on Saturday, we again have the chance to use the Barcodes as a springboard to the top.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>True, the title is no longer in our hands, but it is not in City\u2019s either. All we can do is take all 15 points still available and hope City slip up, or, if we match them point for point to the end, to tonk a couple of teams along the way to erode their three-goal advantage in goals scored.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A Willock consolation in 2024 is the only goal Newcastle has scored at the Emirates since the end of 2014. I can see us keeping another clean sheet. Gabriel would probably nail himself to the hands of the timepiece over the Clock End rather than concede another goal.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, our conversion rate (we rank 3rd in the league for creating big chances but 15th for taking them) makes me hesitant to expect anything more than a 2-0 victory, even though I would dearly love the floodgates to open.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We\u2019ve got to be \u2018all in\u2019 and win the final five league games, as Arteta said in his pre-match press conference, starting with Newcastle. Believe, as Ted Lasso would say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Enjoy the game, \u2018holics, far and near.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Embed from Getty Images And so to the Stadium of Stone, where we host long-standing rivals Newcastle United in Saturday\u2019s early evening Premier League match.&nbsp; It will be the 199th competitive meeting between the two clubs, dating back to September 2, 1893, when the Geordies were our opponents in our first Football League fixture. The [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13274"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13274"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13274\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13284,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13274\/revisions\/13284"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}