The villain of the piece appears to have morphed from Arsenal to Liverpool to Alexander Isak himself

Farmer Giles is an honest, hard working bloke who tends to his crops every day and hopes for the best possible return.

One day, though, he hit a rock and broke his plough whilst preparing one of his fields.

He was desperate to finish his ploughing ready for the new season so he thought he would jog on over to Farmer Brown and borrow a plough from his neighbours.

On his way over, he played out how the conversation might go in his head.

“Hi, mate – do you think I could borrow a plough?”

“Uh, what happened to your plough?”

“I hit a rock in the top field and it broke”

“Well, how do you know you won’t hit another rock and break my plough as well – I’m not too sure about this ….”

By this point he’d arrived at Farmer Brown’s, had rung the bell and Farmer Brown was standing in the doorway about to speak.

Before he could though, Farmer Giles shouts; “You can stick you plough where the sun don’t shine, you tight bar steward”, spins on his heels and stomps away in a blind rage!

What relevance has this agricultural epic to a Newcastle United website, you may well ask. Well, it was the reaction I’ve seen to recent events revolving around Alexander Isak that brought it to mind.

Some of what I’ve read on The Mag comments section, not social media, today (Thursday):

“He’s gone …..”

“……he is holding club to ransom…. “

“If money is more important to him than playing for us then let him go”

“…. call his bluff….”

“…. just want him out now……”

The conversation amongst many on The Mag comments section seems to be inexorably shifting from whether we should sell him or not, to how quickly we should do it and who to. And the villain of the piece, looking back over the last few months, has morphed from Arsenal to Liverpool to Alexander Isak himself.

It’s difficult to accept that a man who has served us faithfully and well since signing from Real Sociedad in August 2022, has always said how happy he is at Newcastle and has said absolutely nothing during all of this speculation has suddenly – and increasingly – become the villain of the piece.

What are the facts of the matter?

First and foremost, Alexander Isak is undoubtedly one of the best strikers in world football, is contracted to NUFC and still has three years left on his contract. Salary wise, he is on significantly less money than he could earn at a number of English and European clubs with greater commercial revenue.

Whenever interviewed about his attitude to Newcastle United, he has always stated unequivocally that he is happy there but he has said nothing publicly during the current wave of speculation.

Liverpool have recently employed very underhand tactics to try and unsettle him by “letting it be known” that they would be prepared to pay £120 million for his services (and the rest, please!).

Eddie Howe stated that he left him out of the Celtic line-up because he was managing Isak’s minutes early in pre-season and said he sent him back to Tyneside rather than watching Saturday’s match in Glasgow, due to all of the speculation around him. However, the club has stated that he is out of the Asia trip because of a minor thigh strain.

So, what do we make of it all?

Are we to go all “Farmer Giles” and tell Alex to go “where the Sun don’t shine” (don’t be silly, Sunderland couldn’t afford his big toe!), collect the dosh and have a splurge in the European market for three good signings to make ourselves feel better about it all? Or do we wait, see how the conversation actually goes and make new planning decisions for the future?

As an aside, I’m not having a go at the Farmer Giles’ in our fanbase. Undoubtedly honest, hard working supporters who want the best for the club. But it’s hardly surprising that spirits can flag after years (14+ to be exact) of neglect by the previous absentee landlord. At least we can be confident that if Alexander Isak is sold, the current owners will at least reinvest the money.

My personal view is that we need to do everything we can to keep Alexander Isak happy and with us for at least another year. Give him a decent pay rise that we can afford (especially if it’s only likely to run for a year) which I would say he deserves anyway – and set a realistic (for our purposes) release clause as well as promising him that he can go in a year’s time if that’s what he wants.

If I was going to complain at all, my ire would be directed towards the Newcastle United hierarchy. There seems to be an air of secrecy about everything nowadays with very little communication with the fanbase until after the event. I know contract negotiations and transfer talks are highly confidential affairs but it’s little surprise that we have so much speculation when the club says nothing for days on end.

Fans are already wound up enough about the little matter of whether or not we’re going to have a new stadium, where the new training centre is likely to be and who’s going to be our new CEO and Sporting Director are going to be.

These new Newcastle United owners have come in and saved us from a fate worse than death. Using their own money, rather than leveraged debt, they’ve recruited the perfect manager, invested well in the team, brought the academy up to a competitive level, established a rapidly rising ladies team and, crucially, delivered a trophy and two Champions League qualifications in three seasons. Remarkable.

We love you guys for all of that but PLEASE communicate with us!

Having had that mild rant, I must say that I’m confident that the Saudi PIF and the Reuben family will get it right. They’re learning as they go along and have had to work around an extremely loaded deck so they deserve to be cut some slack.

Taking the huff and spitting our dummy out now would be like Farmer Giles risking his land being unploughed with a new growing season about to begin. And don’t forget, we’ve got fields to nurture in Europe now as well as in good old Blighty!