Newcastle fans, post-match reactions and the need for a scapegoat
Using social media as a barometer of Newcastle United supporter sentiment is a very risky enterprise, but instant reactions and emotional 140-character outbursts can shape the narrative in the 2025 football landscape.
Whenever Newcastle lose a game or something else goes wrong, the knee-jerk reactions begin in earnest. Often it can simmer until the next game and can dominate the discussion in between matches. This is particularly the case where accounts with tens of thousands of followers say something inflammatory which is then agreed with or jumped on by people that call out the lack of logic or common sense in the statement.
There is often valid debate to be had about the players in question and reasonable concerns about the future based on a player's age or declining ability, but it is pathetic that this then manifests in statements that these individuals are suddenly 'done', 'cooked', or just plain 'useless'. Particularly when the same players have often been through something similar before and have come out the other side. It is a normal part of football for players to come in and out of form, and it is not practical or realistic to drop or sell a player or fire them into the sun whenever they hit a rough patch.
This brings us onto the recent inconsistent form of Newcastle and some of the reactions this has spawned.
The current goalkeeper debate is something that appears to be bemusing supporters in both camps. Regardless of who you prefer between Nick Pope and Martin Dubravka, the fact is that nine months ago there was a groundswell of supporter opinion that Pope should be in the England squad for Euro 2024.
Fast forward to February 2025 and he is being castigated on social media as not good enough to start for Newcastle in favour of Martin Dubravka, who himself endured a torrid time between the sticks last season when Pope was injured. Dubravka acquitted himself far better when deputising this season, but he has not suddenly become good enough to be Newcastle's first choice any more than Pope has inexplicably declined to the point he is no longer Premier League standard. Dubravka was deemed surplus to requirements in 2022 and is now 36.
Pope may well still be in recovery from his shoulder injuries, and his previous weaknesses with the ball at his feet are still in evidence. Perhaps he will never return to his 2022/23 best, but at 32 he is still in his prime years for a goalkeeper, and it is important for stability that a football team has a recognised number one goalkeeper. A new long-term custodian should and more than likely will be acquired in the summer, but until then we are going to have to endure the tiresome vitriol of Pope being blamed for every goal Newcastle concede regardless of how culpable he actually is, along with assertions that previous public enemy #1 Dubravka would have done better. It is boring, nonsensical and potentially damaging to a player's morale and confidence.
Sean Longstaff has been the ultimate victim of this sort of insidious confirmation bias from a section of Newcastle supporters over the last few years. Everyone is in agreement that Longstaff has limitations, and he is an obvious candidate to be moved on this summer if there is a good enough financial package on the table for club and player, but if he had performed like Sandro Tonali did at Anfield...
That's not to say that Tonali should be castigated and abused as even the best players are allowed off days, but it is a reflection on the double standards that plague a section of social media supporters. Longstaff's name continually crops up in fans' lists of players who have to be sold right now despite him barely kicking a ball over the last few months. It is a heavy weight for a hardworking player to bear and it goes far beyond normal and reasonable criticism of poor performances. Longstaff was given no credit whatsoever in some quarters for scoring eight goals last season.
Dan Burn is another who has been given this treatment during his time at Newcastle. He endured an extremely difficult period in 2023/24 and has come back to be one of the best performing players of 2024/25 despite coming towards the end of his career. Recent weeks have seen both Burn and his centre-back partner Fabian Schar called out for their performances and declared as too old and slow to ever have a role to play at Newcastle again. Aside from the fact there are still three months of the season to go and both will be important to any success, it is as though the fans who want them gone have not been paying attention to the last few transfer windows. The FIFA generation seem to believe it is easy to sell and replace players on a whim.
Like Pope, both Burn and Schar will be replaced in the first team soon, but Newcastle will still need a squad and will rely on experienced players and solid professionals to set the training standards and step into the team to perform when required. The cost of replacing those three players alone would be (at a conservative estimate) at least £60m. It will happen, but it will be done as part of overall squad development rather than as a reaction to a handful of poor performances. And then the players that have been replaced will naturally become squad options.
When the current under-fire players are moved out of the team, the logical next step for this group of fans who are unable to support their club without looking for an individual to pin all of the blame on when things go wrong is for new targets to be found. As absurd as it is, Bruno has copped some of this heat at times over the last few years. Never mind that he has been consistently Newcastle's best and most influential player since signing 3.5 years ago. Harvey Barnes is an easy current target due to his price tag and the fact he is behind Anthony Gordon in the pecking order. This 'waste of money' (who has actually scored 10 goals in 50 appearances for the club) was signed to replace Allan Saint-Maximin and before Gordon became the player he is. This context is lost on the impatient social media brats.
It is easy to see a world in which a player like Joelinton, who lacks true elite technical ability, becomes the next to be scapegoated when the current targets have been moved on. Unfortunately, it appears that if we want to use social media as football supporters in 2025, we have to learn to live with the reactionary nonsense that comes with it.
One of Eddie Howe's strengths is the way he backs his players publicly no matter what. He knows there is no benefit to saying anything that could impact the morale and confidence of players he still needs to rely on (hence his constant public backing of Callum Wilson), even if behind closed doors he demands high standards of all of his players. Howe does not use social media, but he will know he can't shelter his players from it completely, and he will be acutely aware that all it takes is a bad few results for his own position to come under question from those who have decided they don't like him no matter what.
Footballers are no doubt used to the scrutiny and criticism that comes with the territory, but both Bruno and Longstaff have either reacted to negative social media or referenced it as having an impact on them. Abusing or scapegoating players of the club you support does not help in the pursuit of success. This should give those who can't deal emotionally with any adversity some pause for thought next time they feel like venting their spleen.
HWTL!
