Jamaal Lascelles says “everything has changed” at Newcastle United and believes a “sleeping giant” has been awoken this season.
Lascelles was sat in the dugout at St James’ Park on Monday night as he said it, long after a joyous crowd had dissipated, assessing the aftershocks of an extraordinary night when Champions League contenders Arsenal were swatted away 2-0.
Dan Burn bearhugged co-owner Mehrdad Ghodoussi and thanked him for “bringing him home”. Even Ryan Fraser – downcast at pulling a hamstring that will probably rule him out of the final game of the season at Burnley – raised a smile after being accosted by the jubilant Newcastle executive.
Positivity oscillated around St James’ Park for 90 remarkable minutes that felt like the culmination of the storm building since November’s takeover of the club. The team, in case anyone had forgotten, sit in twelfth in the Premier League.
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Newcastle, though, is a story of potential rather than points. Much of the big work is still to come but the foundations have been laid over six months of deliberately cultivating links with the support.
“Hands down the best one I’ve witnessed here,” Lascelles, a veteran of eight years at St James’ Park, tells i of Monday’s ferocious atmosphere.
“Opposition players have said in the past, and even before this game, that they’re not looking forward to it. It ain’t because they’re playing against us players, it’s because they’ve got to face these fans and the atmosphere.
“I know as a player sometimes when you go to hostile environments it can change the game a little bit. That’s the feeling the Arsenal had today. From the first whistle you could see we were up for it and they weren’t because of that backing.”
So how did Newcastle – who had the worst start in Premier League history – end the season with such a flourish?
Money has greased the wheel with good signings (a premium was placed on personalities who wouldn’t disrupt the squad) and some savvy PR has spawned further positivity. But the appointment of Eddie Howe has been, without doubt, the best move of the consortium’s time in charge.
To think that they were counselled by some against it as they approached Unai Emery, warned that Howe was a manager more familiar with relegation battles.
His work in turning Newcastle around has been seriously impressive: a recovery hewn from intense, 12-hour working days that have shifted the culture. Training sessions are longer and more demanding, tactical insight more effectively communicated throughout the day. Players like Jonjo Shelvey have lost weight while others, such as Joelinton, have improved tactically and technically.
“They’re getting proper coaching,” one football insider said. A total culture change, Lascelles says.
He wanted Newcastle to be a pressing team and has changed the pace and mentality of training. Players are told to train the way they play.
More than that, Howe has fostered a sense of unity within the squad. At team bonding sessions players are encouraged to share details from their personal lives to give an insight into what drives them. A group team photo in front of the packed out Gallowgate End on Monday night incorporated partners, children and close friends of the first team in a firm message that they are “all in it together”.
He even praised the local media on Monday night for “sticking with” his team.
“It is completely down to the manager,” Lascelles says of the team’s transition from counter-attacking, defensive unit to one that favours an aggressive high press.
“The drills he puts on in training, it’s all competitive about winning. Nothing’s about being on the back foot and being negative. It’s about attacking, being on the front foot. When you’re doing that every day, repetitively, and the game plan is to get after these teams it becomes your DNA.
“You could see it against Arsenal, we were in their faces, they were making mistakes. The back four is up at the halfway line, we’re in their half whereas before the back four is on the 18-yard box and we’re camped in. To get from there to there is down to the manager and the staff.”
What comes next is fascinating. The ownership group’s visibility hints at their determination to be “hands on”. A CEO appointment is expected in the summer, Dan Ashworth is incoming as Director of Football. Signings are expected and despite talk of a slightly crunched budget, some in football suspect an element of bluff and significant incomings on the horizon.
Everton’s Dominic Calvert-Lewin is a prime target and the club believe they can lure him to the club. Darwin Nunez, of Benfica, is another on Newcastle’s list.
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“I’m really excited about what the club can become,” Lascelles says.
“It’s all Newcastle fans want. For years it’s been a sleeping giant with lack of ambition but now everything’s changed – not just financially but with the culture of the club, the mentality, the togetherness.
“The people of this city love their football and it’s fantastic to see what it could be.
“Even the other day against Liverpool, we went toe to toe with them in a way we haven’t before. It could have gone either way that game and now we’ve beaten Arsenal who were challenging for top four. It goes to show how far we’ve come and where we are as a team.
“It’s building blocks, it’s step by step but with this manager and this group of players and whatever happens in the summer, along with the owners and fans, you’re ticking a lot of boxes. Put it all together and it’s a good force.”
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