What was the situation like when the league was suspended on 13 March? Thirteenth on 35 points, and with Steve Bruce having cast aside the security blanket of Rafael Benítez’s safety-first 3-4-3 system in favour of 4-3-2-1, Newcastle were in mildly optimistic mood. The team remained limited in certain areas and their outstanding goalkeeper Martin Dubravka had just been sidelined by injury but the players were clearly performing for the manager and, given that safety was within touching distance, could look forward to an FA Cup quarter-final.
Meanwhile, no one was taking too much notice of the latest round of rumours regarding a supposedly impending takeover. Bruce himself apparently remained infinitely more concerned about Newcastle’s lack of goals and enduring struggles to retain possession. The manager was also frustrated by the failure of his 20-year-old midfielder Matty Longstaff to agree a new contract. Not to mention Andy Carroll’s ongoing injury problems. A month earlier the club doctor, Paul Catterson, had made Bruce’s squad the first in the Premier League to ban the practice of shaking hands.
What about now? Andy Carroll has declared himself fully fit! Dubravka and the left-back Paul Dummett are also ready to resume following injury. Matty Longstaff is still to agree a new deal and the academy graduate now seems set to leave – possibly for Udinese – for a giveaway £400,000. But everything continues to be overshadowed by Newcastle’s potential takeover by a largely Saudi Arabian sovereign-wealth-fund-backed consortium also featuring Reuben Brothers and Amanda Staveley. The controversial £300m deal to buy out Mike Ashley had been expected to be finalised almost a month ago but is still pending Premier League approval as the governing body’s intellectual property lawyers investigate allegations of Saudi-backed broadcast piracy against Qatar. It means Newcastle find themselves drawn into the proxy war which has raged between the two gulf states since 2017. Ashley, meanwhile, has placed large swathes of non first-team backroom staff on furlough and season-ticket holders are still awaiting refunds for games now being played behind closed doors.
What needs to be done to have a successful end to the season? The takeover to be resolved and the current state of uncertainty-suffused limbo to end. To virtually banish lingering relegation fears by beating Sheffield United at St James’ Park in their first game back and then proceed to overcome Aston Villa, also at home, before facing Manchester City, again on Tyneside, in an eagerly anticipated FA Cup quarter-final. For backroom staff – including members of the scouting department – to be removed from furlough and season-ticket holders refunded. To persuade Matty Longstaff to agree a new deal. For the £40m centre forward Joelinton to finally locate his shooting boots – maybe, just maybe, the Brazilian might prosper when deployed to the left of a fit Carroll. And, above all, pray Dubravka remains fit to help Bruce lead Newcastle to a first major trophy since the Fairs Cup in 1969.
Have players and staff behaved during lockdown? There was a time when Newcastle was a club synonymous with scandal but, with even Carroll maturing, times have changed. No player or staff member has been caught breaching lockdown. The midfielder Jonjo Shelvey says he is now fitter than he was before football’s suspension in March.
Any unsung/community heroes? The club have continued to support a local foodbank, delivered emergency supplies to the vulnerable and made frequent phone calls to lonely fans isolated by the pandemic.
Key player in the run-in? Allan Saint-Maximin. The former Nice winger was hampered by hamstring trouble before lockdown but is now ready to unleash the full extent of his blistering acceleration and chicane-style dribbles. A game-changer, match-winner and the player arguably most capable of “switching the lights on” at St James’ Park.
End-of-season-predictions The Saudi-led takeover happens – eventually – against a backdrop of protests against the country’s appalling human rights abuses but with ultimately transformative effect on the pitch and in the surrounding city. Bruce deservedly confounds his critics by steering the team to an 11th-placed finish but fails to get past Manchester City in the FA Cup as speculation about Benítez’s apparently imminent return to Tyneside swirls. Club officials are inundated by an incessant stream of phone calls from the world’s leading football agents.
Remaining fixtures (all times BST): Sun 21 June Sheffield United (h) – 2pm, Sky Sports Weds 24 June Aston Villa (h) – 6pm, BT Sport Weds 1 July Bournemouth (a) – 6pm, Sky Sports TBC West Ham (h), Manchester City (a), Watford (a), Tottenham (h), Brighton (a), Liverpool (h)