And we’re back. I can’t recall a close season which has been wished away so much by so many. The patter between Mags has crackled all summer about getting back onto the blessed stands of St James’ Park, scrambles for tickets for home and away, membership deals, season ticket demand, expanding our beloved ancestral home or moving stadiums and all are symptoms of a club reborn, straining at the leash.

There wasn’t a spare seat at SJP for the visit of newly promoted Forest. Not one. By conservative estimate, United could have sold another 10 – 15,000 for the opening game of the season. Everywhere you go in the NE people are talking about Newcastle United – from the Tweed to the Tees and beyond, Black & Whiters are buzzing. Club of the North!

We can see with our own eyes what is happening with the appointment of serious, substantial people to pivotal positions of strategic importance at United.

From the boardroom having a new CEO in Darren Eales, a big legal hitter in John Devine, Darren Ashworth as Sporting Director and numerous other corporate, coaching and scouting recruits who will move Newcastle United into an elite operation.

This is a club we believe in, we are invested in, in every single way. It reaches into our mindsets as supporters. It started last season when the defiance in our ranks was to save the club from relegation to one which we knew could play a critical role in lifting the team into a new paradigm. That’s where we are now. We accept our role in creating the right environment at SJP for our team and a very hostile one for the opposition.

There were lulls in the vocal support on Saturday of course but none of the sullenness, sighing, despair and bad temper of the near past. Everyone inside SJP is playing for the shirt, on the pitch and in the stands.

In previous times, we might have succumbed to a newly promoted team with a clever manager, on a bounce of optimism, backed by a big away support. Not this team and not this crowd.

Clearly, once again, we all have to pay tribute to Wor Flags. The volunteers once more have put the effort in to provide inspiration to the team and galvanise fellow supporters. As something of a fan of soul music, my eyes rolled back in my head at the joy of hearing one of the songs of a bona-fide legend, Nina Simone blasting from the SJP PA. It summed up the feelings of all of the Mags I’d spoken to en-route to the Gallowgate End and indeed at the TF Pre-Season Forum on the previous Thursday night at The Stand. They hit the SJP sweet-spot perfectly.

If you aren’t donating something every month, no matter how small, you should be ‘ if you can ‘ click here

You don’t have to be going to games to donate ‘ no matter where you are in the world, by donating you can be part of the match-day support and experience. You can be involved even if you aren’t on The Gallowgate waving a flag. You can be part of what makes the atmosphere unique.

That was a lovely touch for Derek Wright who has recently retired as physio at the club. His departure from United wouldn’t have been handled as well under the Ashley regime because they simply lacked any kind of class or respect for anyone.

Fair play once again to Wor Flags for the added extra with the Wright flag! Thank you Derek!

This is who we are but this is who we have always been and always will be.

I thought the news of the extended contract to Eddie Howe on the eve of the season was well-timed. The vast majority of supporters welcomed this news and the quiet man from the south coast has a huge hinterland of good-will. Naturally, we all wish him every success.

We comprehensively outplayed Forest. I can’t say whether that was evidence of them lacking the quality to stop in this division but I do recognise the energy, appetite fitness of all of our players is way ahead of what we have seen in recent Bruce-cursed seasons.

Howe’s intensity, his attention to detail, his professionalism, his standards are lifting players to new levels.

We were all over them, smothering their players as they tried to play out from the back, intercepting, harrying, closing down and then moving the ball up the pitch and playing almost the entire game in the Forest half.

It was incredible Forest made it to HT at nils apiece and as we moved deeper into the second half we could have been forgiven for thinking it was going to be one of those days with some good opportunities not taken.

Then Schar’s incredible shot, followed by Wilson’s sand-iron like flick which left Henderson in the Forest goal clutching for ghosts.

An almost complete performance but one where even a wearied old cynic like me just watches mouth open at the wizardry of Bruno Guimar’es, a metronomic, dynamic presence in our midfield.

The Brazilian maestro has been at United less than half a season but I’m looking at him thinking at the current rate of progress he could be the greatest player I’ve ever seen in a B&W shirt, though he is already spoken of in such company as Paul Gascoigne, Rob Lee and Gary Speed. I’ll throw in my own childhood hero Tommy Craig into the mix who I adored. The lad oozes class. I’d pay to watch him warm up.

In one of my more lucid moments I quite fancied Howe would play might select Burn ahead of Botman and so it proved. I’m an unashamed Dan Burn fan. He never lets us down but he’s under pressure from one of Europe’s most coveted central defenders for his position.

Botman will be blooded in much the way of Guimar’es and he is the future of Newcastle United. However, Dan Burn is Newcastle United through and through and I’ll always smile at his name on our team-sheet.’ The Blyth Baresi.

Where will we go this season? There is rightly optimism we have left the struggles of recent years behind us. There is real ambition at United, albeit the mantra of evolution over revolution is repeated and I agree with that approach. I loved the KK renaissance of the 1990s but we were too much fur coat and no knickers and it was over too soon with no infrastructure to get us back quickly despite the efforts of SBR and his team. Success was a phantom.

But there is a here and now. There is always a here and now. There are always challenges today, tomorrow and next week. Long term strategic thinking is essential but for this season before we even think about setting our own expectations we have to accept the squad is about two players short. We all know those players are in attacking positions. In my half-arsed view of the season if we recruit well in those positions, we can think about targeting 60 points (+11 than our haul last season) which I guess would take us up to around 7-8^th. That would be significant progress.

I don’t see us continuing the form we have been in since January. Not that I’d complain if we did but I do see us hitting a wall at some point and having a bad run. That’s inevitable and that’s football. But 7-8^th is realistic ‘ IF we sign those two players.

If we don’t then I think we have to rein in our expectations accordingly.

But if we do, we can finish in a strong league position and go properly at the Cup competitions.

Signing players is different now. The pool we want to draw from is narrower because we’re looking for better quality. The clubs with those players want to keep them and will only sell at big prices. I like we are taking a sensible approach. We can see where a scatter-gun recruitment can lead to at Everton and of course at Sunderland who are both paying for ill-judged, hasty recruitment.

United does not have the riches of popular, media imagination. There are explanations for that which stretch from Ashley’s sabotage of the club’s commercial operations, Financial Fair Play, related party sponsorships as well as how the club wishes to operate. Clubs and agents are slow to realise that.

Last week the interest in James Maddison from Leicester seemed to dissipate. It was an odd one because I wouldn’t have had Maddison’s position as a priority given our limited resources. It now seems a deal won’t be done. A shame because we all admire the player!

Interestingly, Howe has also said Elliot Anderson will not be going out on loan this season. Whether that is due to Anderson’s progress over the close season or lack of success in the transfer market remains to be seen. But I’m looking forward to seeing the lad given the high praise he’s had from those close to his development.

We’ll just have to wait and see. United remain active in the transfer market. We want value and we want the right players. I think we’ll get both.

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Brighton away next up! It is a difficult one due to the rail-strike (Up The Workers!) but we will have a full away end regardless.

Brighton is a good club. They have been run very well (Ashworth’s role has underpinned their progress) and they have a good manager in Potter, who might be in scope of succeeding Southgate after the World Cup.

Unfortunately for them they have just sold a very good player in Cucarella to Chelsea for ’60m+. We are nowhere near spending that money for a left-wing-back. However, the man who took him to Brighton, Ashworth is now with us. That’s probably a more valuable acquisition.

Brighton is a challenge but then so are we! We are better than we were last season and we should go there with no fear. We should have confidence. We will have confidence. There are 3 points for the Mags to be had.

Have a great week.

Keep On, Keepin’ On …

Michael Martin, @TFMick1892