Dream season complete despite Toon defeat! - Newcastle 0-1 Everton
Newcastle United have done it. A dream season ended with the prize we’ve been pushing for all season; Champions League football for 2025/26!
We very nearly made a complete mess of it, struggling for much of the 90 in a 1-0 defeat to Everton. A nightmare result that left our fate out of our hands.
However, with 10-man Aston Villa losing 2-0 at Man Utd, our surprise loss was enough to seal a fifth-place finish, securing our spot in Europe’s top competition as Eddie Howe completes the greatest season in recent memory at Newcastle United.
Elsewhere, a win for Man City at Fulham sees them finish third, while Chelsea snuck fourth after a hard-fought 1-0 win at Nottingham Forest, who finished seventh after a poor end to a season where they were largely superb.
Howe made one change and it was a welcome one, seeing Isak pass a fitness test and replace Wilson up top. Trippier also returned to the bench, with Botman able to start again and Gordon going at a 39-year-old Ashley Young against his former club.
The first half wasn’t pretty. The crowd were up for it but the 3-4-3 system wasn’t working and the players looked edgy. Nothing came off for Murphy and Gordon, Barnes and Isak weren’t getting into the game, loose passes allowed Everton to break past our light midfield a little too easily and Beto was causing Botman problems, with Pickford often pinging it long up to Everton’s big man.
Tonali tested Pickford from range, Isak’s follow up effort was saved and Schar headed over a few from corners, but it was generally an uninspiring first 45 that saw nerves spread around St James’ Park, especially as Pope had to make a few vital saves to keep us level going into the break.
Howe made a change at the break - he had to - and brought Gordon off after a really poor first 45 from our No.10. Willock came on and we moved back to a 4-3-3, but it didn’t change much. We just couldn’t get going and Burn’s switch to left back wasn’t working.
Trippier came on just after the hour mark and two minutes later, disaster struck. Mykolenko’s floated cross found Alcaraz and Pope was rooted as he headed in, meaning we suddenly had to rely on other results unless we found two goals without reply in just over 20 minutes.
Nerves turned into panic and suddenly eyes turned to checking Aston Villa’s score at Man Utd. It was 0-0 at the time with Villa a man down, yet two Man Utd goals in the last 15 minutes saved our day and secured our spot in the Champions League. Sob on the Holte? Not at St James’, despite a defeat and performance we didn’t see coming!
What a season this has been. In early December, after that 4-2 defeat at Brentford, a trophy and top-five finish felt a long way away, but Howe has found the formula and the players have delivered, creating the most memorable and successful season of most of our lifetimes.
The joyous post-match scenes and lap of the pitch featured one emotional moment as Callum Wilson waved goodbye as he wiped tears from his eyes. He couldn’t find a goal on his final cameo, but what a servant he’s been; through the good and bad.
As Wor Flags said in their pre-match banner at the Gallowgate: “You entered the pitch as players, you left it as legends”
Next up, a welcome break for the lads, the release of 2025/26 fixtures on June 18th and hopefully plenty of exciting signings before we kick off our pre-season plans.
Howay the lads!
