It is an Eddie Howe tradition that has followed him from the South Coast to Tyneside and confidently thumbs a nose at football’s “celebration police”.
After every one of Newcastle United’s six wins this season, Howe has insisted his starting players, unused subs, backroom staff and injured stars huddle together in the euphoria of the victorious dressing room to allow club photographer Serena Taylor to take a commemorative picture.
With five wins in their last six games as part of a remarkable mid-winter renaissance that has shrunk relegation fears at St James’ Park, the portraits have become a reassuringly common occurrence. At 5pm on Saturday – a quarter of an hour after a fortuitous victory that owed much to their newly discovered resilience – it dropped on the club’s Twitter feed with the simple caption: “United”.
To some it might feel excessive. You can imagine Roy Keane rolling his eyes at pushing euphoric team photos out on social media simply for putting a dreadfully out-of-form Brighton to the sword – and rival supporters making hay at the club’s candour.
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But that would be missing the point of what Howe is trying to build at Newcastle, a club that was fractured by dissent and disunity until a transformative takeover last year that has returned hope to Tyneside along with controversy at the identity of their owners.
“It’s something we do to foster the enjoyment of winning. You have to enjoy those moments because they are rare,” Howe explained afterwards.
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“It’s something we did way back in the Bournemouth days but we didn’t get the press taking much interest back then. It’s just part of the culture we’re trying to create – everyone’s in it together: backroom staff, injured players, subs, it’s not just the XI on the pitch everyone plays a huge role in a win.”
To prove his point, the latest picture featured Kieran Trippier, replete with crutches and a moon boot to protect a broken foot that is likely to rule him out for much of the rest of this season.
That he wanted to be there – along with the club doctor, analysts and out of favour players, speaks volumes.
“It’s just trying to recognise that moment in time because we all get old very quickly. It’s to have a memory of that game and something to look back on.”
Perhaps the album of pictures to mark Newcastle’s march into mid-table will one day be viewed in the same way that Liverpool’s infamous full team salute to the Kop after salvaging a 2-2 draw with Tony Pulis’ West Brom is now, seven years on.
Jurgen Klopp was pilloried at the time: the celebration held up as an indication of Liverpool’s supposedly meagre ambitions. But he insisted it was about more than the result, instead representing the moment Anfield collectively bought into the team he was attempting to create.
There’s no doubt Howe is building something at St James’ Park, his 6am starts and smart solutions to exploiting opponents’ weaknesses now producing tangible results. The public here sense it too, offering full-throated backing which has transformed the mood at the club.
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That commitment to recruiting the right characters to ensure the chemistry at Newcastle is right led the club to bring in Dan Burn from Saturday’s visitors Brighton. He was man of the match as the Magpies fell back on their new-found resilience in the absence of the fluency that has accompanied recent wins.
“He’s been so good around the training ground, so good with the group,” Howe said of Burn.
“I didn’t want to damage the environment we had in January and the biggest compliment I can play to the players we signed is the spirit is as strong as it has ever been.”
Brighton, by contrast, will barely believe this was their fourth defeat on the bounce.
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Graham Potter’s side won plaudits for the way they opened up the season and play such marvellous football. They dominated for most of this contest, firmly on top for the first ten minutes before a lightning counter that saw Chris Wood supply Jacob Murphy, whose shot clipped off the post for Ryan Fraser to convert the rebound.
Fabian Schar added a second to leave Brighton reeling but they kept exploiting the angles and moving the ball with pleasing cohesion. When Lewis Dunk nodded an early second half goal, you expected an onslaught. It didn’t arrive.
“Performance-wise, we did a lot well but football is about scoring one more goal than your opponent and that’s what Newcastle did,” Potter said. Liverpool are next as Brighton’s season threatens to derail.
Newcastle, by contrast, now sit eight points clear of a relegation black hole that seemed certain to consume them earlier this season. It feels like attention will soon turn to the work required to turn them into a credible Premier League force in the close season.
“We are still in a relegation fight. It is important the players feel that too. There is no let up,” Howe said.
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