After Eddie Howe replaced Steve Bruce as Newcastle United manager last year, the club were in 19th place in the Premier League as survival looked like a tall order.
In fact, many fans and pundits commented about how the Magpies’ takeover would be in vain if the club suffered relegation, which seemed like a distinct possibility at the time.
However, Howe’s incredible coaching coupled with Newcastle’s astute recruitment meant the club soared up the table to eventually finish as high as 9th at the end of the campaign.
After making a number of shrewd additions this summer as well, with the incomings of Nick Pope, Sven Botman and Alexander Isak in particular, Newcastle are sitting pretty in 3rd place in the league table this term.
However, Gary Neville has suggested that the club’s revival over the past couple of months has not been staggering.
“It’s not incredible because we know when Saudi Arabia came in, there was going to be more money put in. They were going to buy better players”, he said on The Gary Neville Podcast on Sky Sports Premier League.
Neville went on to credit the club’s approach since being taken over, saying, “The early signings have been measured, you see sometimes sovereign wealth funds coming into football clubs and all of a sudden, there has to be a star to pin to it. A badge of honour almost.”
“We’ve not seen that with Newcastle actually. They’ve been a lot more measured in terms of how they’ve gone about it. Bringing in a manager, Eddie Howe, I would think it is fashionable but he would not be deemed a celebrity manager.”
“The way they’ve done it has been quite controlled, and they’ve built a spirit and a good team ethic. They’re getting more out of the players who were there before.”
However one paints it, there is simply no denying that Newcastle’s rise to the top has been nothing short of spectacular.
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