Fresh from a Newcastle United email blast hawking Adidas Sambas like a crackhead in need of a fix (the commercial team seriously can’t help themselves, can they?), I got to thinking about Marie Antoinette, and how difficult it is to reclaim a narrative.
A deeply misunderstood figure, Antoinette never actually said her most famous line: ‘Let them eat cake.’ It was attributed to her decades after her death by a journalist, and she has been pilloried for it for the last 200-odd years. Make no mistake, Antoinette was no saint, but it’s ‘the’ textbook example of just how difficult it can be to reclaim a narrative once the press gets a hold of it. Despite numerous scholarly articles to the contrary all anyone wants to talk about is the cake!
And so it is with Newcastle United, the summer transfer window, and the PIF’s stewardship of our great club. The narrative (and at this point, it’s fair and based on lots of evidence) is that United are having an absolute mare, are barely able to get a transfer over the line, and the owners are not doing enough, leaving the club in the hands of people who are either unqualified or overstretched as we head into the Sela Cup weekend with 25 days to salvage our summer window.
Something happened with Newcastle’s storytelling after the League Cup win, something fans had hoped would be just the beginning, sadly appears to be an end, as just a few short months later, the team that became legends, one of its key men, has decided he no longer wants to play for the club.
Putting aside the obvious breach of contract if he refused to play (he’s an employee with three years left after all), Isak’s behaviour seems to be in complete contradiction to everything we thought we knew about him, and his behaviour raises a huge question which I think is on the lips of a lot of fans in the pubs and clubs of the North East and beyond, but its succinctly summarised by a Sporting Minute post on X:
‘The biggest risk to Newcastle United now isn’t missing out on these players. None of us gave a second thought to Sesko or Ekitike prior to this summer, but it’s the damage it does to existing players like Tonali, Bruno, Gordon, etc. Isak’s reason for wanting out is that the project isn’t what he was promised, and how can you argue with him after this summer? Now others will be asking the same and quickly.’
This is the aspect about the Isak drama that concerns myself the most, the impact on the rest of the squad. United simply can’t afford to let this squad break apart as it feels/felt (depending on outlook) that they were on the verge of something special, that we just needed one or two quality additions to push on. Thankfully, Bruno and Gordon have spoken this summer, have spoken well, and appear to be ready to continue to develop and grow their careers on Tyneside.
Off the pitch is of huge concern and I covered it in great detail here, so I won’t repeat myself but those are medium to long-term concerns. United need to get serious about the short term and start to try and claw back any sliver of a positive narrative this summer. It would only take a couple of quality signings too. Just like results if you win three in a row, you soon forget the five defeats in a row before it.
United need to reclaim the narrative, and like any good story, it begins with an interesting subplot behind the main narrative. The club needs to get serious (again?) about this project over the next three weeks, get tough in the transfer market and sign some players who will give the club a realistic chance of doing well this season and continuing the momentum on the pitch, despite the shamble off it.
Setbacks and missed targets are one thing, but if we don’t react now and show we can still mean business this season with the acquisition of a strong, pacy right-sided CB, central midfield cover, and probably two strikers, the rest of the squad will be wondering what’s going on.
The lads all worked so hard for the club last season, made many of our dreams come true, and qualified for the Champions League, and yet we’ve only signed one outfield player. It all feels a little derivative of the summer after Alan Pardew’s United finished 5th, and we only signed Vurnon Anita…
Our captain said it best back in May after United qualified for the UCL despite the Everton loss:
“We have been improving a lot, but I think we are not at the level that I want.”
“I think for next season, we’re going to need more players, to be honest with you, because I think this squad is a little bit short.
“We have seen last season when we played in the Champions League, we lost some players to injury and it was messy for us, so I think we can improve the level of our squad.”
If United don’t push back on the negative summer narrative soon (and we’ve all seen that the agenda is set with Sky, TalkSport, BBC, and random talking heads falling over themselves to laugh, unfortunately, probably justifiably at the moment) and show the ambition players were sold when they arrived, we all know what becomes of Tonali, Tino and Gordon et al next summer.
Over to you, Newcastle United.
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