Newcastle's new reality is not a surprise- it’s not f****** Championship Manager
I’m really not sure Newcastle are suffering from second season syndrome…more from the pressure of actually producing at the very top level.
It’s so strange isn’t it, this whole expectation thing in football. Fans are desperate to see their side get any sort of success, and are pretty patient generally in waiting for it to happen.
But deliver even a bit of a taste of it, and everyone wants more and more. The demands go off the scale, and I think that is the hardest part of being a pro at the top level to deal with. I had it from the age of 18 with Liverpool, who were so used to success when I was a kid, that when it dried up it was a massive, heavy burden on all the players who followed those greats who delivered the procession of trophies.
I won quite a few honours in my career, more than people realise and for most professional footballers it would have been quite the haul from what would be deemed a successful career. But we were Liverpool, and not winning the League or European Cup was basically a failure.
I was really the first generation after the golden period, and it was natural we were judged by the standards that had come directly before us. And I think that is a tiny bit of what Eddie Howe is experiencing at Newcastle now.
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He delivered so quickly, got his team to where everyone wanted to be so effortlessly - or so it seems, because of course it’s not f****** Championship Manager as most fans seem to believe - that everything gets turned up to 11. So your first away game in the Champions League after an absence of 20 years or more, in the home of AC MIlan, the San Siro one of the great football cathedrals, and you come away with a draw. And what is the reaction?
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It has been an up-and-down season for Newcastle (Graham Wilson/Action Plus/REX/Shutterstock)They got mullered, basically. Yeah, I know the performance wasn’t great. But honestly, they got what any manager will tell you was a good draw - and one they would have settled for before kick off.
It is a new competition against a respected team who got to the semi final of the competition only last season, in front of their fans who were magnificent and created a proper hostile atmosphere. Few of the players had appeared in the Champions League before. Eddie Howe had never been to a Champions League game, never mind managed in one. It’s a totally new experience, just like challenging Manchester City last season was.
No one expected - or demanded - they’d win the title in their first year challenging, so why suddenly are they expected to out-perform AC on their home ground in their first taste at football’s high table? Expectation, stupid. Me, I always loved the demands of that. It’s what you dream of as a kid. When I was growing up Liverpool AND Everton were serial winners, and I just assumed I’d do the same if I made it.
Even as a manager, I’ve always wanted to get to the top. I’ve taken a job in the Saudi Arabia First Division League, very definitely not for the money as people say, but because it’s a chance to get promoted and then pit myself against some of the top managers and top players in world football. I want that challenge.
Some players and managers prefer to avoid that level of expectation though. I’m not saying it’s the case with Jadon Sancho at Manchester United, because I honestly don’t know what’s going on there, and from the outside as a manager, I don’t think you can treat players like that any more.
But Dortmund is a very different beast to United. At Dortmund, challenging is the expectation, winning anything is a lovely bonus. At United, not winning things is a crime in some quarters. So you get my point, though I think Sancho has always had that drive and ambition which suggests he wants that pressure.
Eddie Howe led Newcastle to fourth last season (Kieran McManus/REX/Shutterstock)
Newcastle claimed a draw away to AC Milan (Nigel Keene/ProSports/REX/Shutterstock)Saying all this though, doesn’t reduce the pressure on Newcastle. It’s a reality now. You spend money, there’s massive expectation, even though it just isn’t like FIFA, honestly!
So there is pressure on Sunday after just a couple of indifferent performances this season. And there is pressure from a run of seven games I think it is, in 23 days. That’s something again that is so hard to get used to, when you first play at that level.
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A game every three days, usually against top opponents. Sheffield United is a ‘no win’ game, even if they win, because they’re expected to thrash them. Then they face City, PSG, West Ham away and Dortmund amongst others in the next month.
That’s relentless. But it’s what you’re in it for. I would say this though, the players, the club and their supporters should at least try not to get too wrapped up in the expectation of the success of that… and just try to enjoy it, because these things should always be savoured.
Ange deserves time at Spurs even if things go south
If what I’ve read is correct - and who knows these days! - Spurs have had their best start to a season since 1963. I’m not entirely sure it’s time to get carried away just yet though.
As much as I think Ange Postecoglou is a breath of fresh air from the cautious approach they’ve suffered at that club from recent managers. He believes in possession based football - as I do, after being brought up on that philosophy at Liverpool, where it was bred into you from such a young age.
And he believes in giving his players the freedom to make mistakes without bollocking them, and making them feel small, as other managers have definitely done there recently. Are they any closer to winning a trophy though? It’s hard to say at this stage, obviously. But I will say, to me Arsenal look to have the edge in the north London derby still, especially because they’re at home.
I look at the two squads, and they’re in different stages of evolution, with Arsenal looking further along in adopting the philosophy of Mikel Arteta, and more comfortable in carrying it out. Arsenal spent well in the summer. They added some big players who can influence the mentality at the club, while no matter what people say, the loss of Harry Kane will have a big effect in the long run.
He set standards, he was a big personality with a passion for winning, and the desire that goes with it. In the end, he gave so much to that club, but he wants to win, and you can only agree it was the right decision to leave for Bayern. It leaves Spurs with a rebuilding that will take longer than one summer, a few signings and a new manager. But at the same time, I like Postecoglou’s approach, I like his attitude, and I believe he’s earned the chance he’s taken so well so far.
And I think he should be given time too, if there is any slump as will be likely after losing one of the best strikers of his generation. You need to give managers with a longer term philosophy time to develop it…though football isn’t good at that, is it?!
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