Newcastle United are back in the Champions League
Newcastle United are back in the Champions League
The team bus was deathly quiet. Newcastle United had just suffered a 4-2 defeat at Brentford to leave Eddie Howe's team languishing in 12th place.
A storm was raging, which led to Newcastle's flight home being cancelled, and the weather mirrored Howe's mood as the Magpies boss watched the game back alongside assistant Graeme Jones on the crawl up the M1. It led to a 'collective reset' last December.
"I didn't tear down the walls, but some harsh words were said just in a different setting," Howe recalled to ChronicleLive. "I never believe in something big and public. That's done for you rather than the individual player.
"I always believe in honest feedback delivered in the right way and I'm not frightened to do that. At that stage, we weren't delivering what we were capable of and that's a huge frustration for me when I see my team underperform to its level because I take that on myself.
"Since then, there's been a brilliant response. Confidence levels have grown and now I'm seeing the team in a totally different view."
Totally different is right. This is a side who not only went on to qualify for the Champions League, but who also lifted a first major domestic trophy in 70 years.
Although Newcastle were ultimately indebted to Manchester United, after the Magpies scraped a fifth-placed finish on the final day, Howe's team nonetheless went on to win 21 of a possible 30 games in all competitions following their Brentford nadir. For context, only champions Liverpool picked up more points in the Premier League in that time.
The experience of key players like Dan Burn has proved vital for Newcastle United
There were testing moments along the way. Bournemouth, Manchester City and Aston Villa all put four goals past Newcastle - just as Brentford did - but it was rather telling that those subsequent setbacks did not knock the black-and-whites off course in the race for the top five. That was not going to happen with resilient figures like Dan Burn around.
"It's just the experience of playing with each other for the last two or three years," the England international explained to ChronicleLive. "We have had that Champions League experience, those big-game experiences, knowing that you can get turned over, but the way that we prepare for games is to put it to one side and we go again.
"We said that European football was the aim and we got the [Conference League] play-off through the cup final but with the position we were in, we would have been disappointed if we didn't make the Champions League. It's what we want. We want to be playing Tuesday/Saturday rather than Thursday/Sunday."
That wish was clear even after Newcastle won the Carabao Cup in March. There was a 'worry' among the coaching team about how the players might react following Newcastle's emotional Wembley triumph against Liverpool because even the slightest drop off at this level can be costly.
However, just as the staff have driven standards - not least after Howe was hospitalised with pneumonia last month - so, too, have the club's leadership group. Rather than settling after ending the drought, Bruno Guimaraes set the tone with one particular speech to his team-mates after telling those around him that 'we want more'.
"We always show hunger for more," the Newcastle captain made clear to ChronicleLive. "It was not enough just to win the cup. We wanted to write the most beautiful history in this club."
Bruno Guimaraes 'wanted more 'after Newcastle United's Carabao Cup final win
You won't be surprised to learn that the Champions League means 'everything' to Bruno. The same could be said about one or two others. A lot is rightly made of the transformative financial rewards of qualifying in a PSR world, but doing so for a second time in three seasons also sends a strong message to Newcastle's current stars about the direction of the club.
Instead of losing Bruno, Sandro Tonali or Alexander Isak, Newcastle want to bring in quality players who can help the squad build on this remarkable campaign. It is certainly not lost on anyone that reinforcements are needed - even after such a historic season.
Staleness, after all, could just so easily have set in following three windows without strengthening the starting line-up. However, rather than bemoaning a lack of major signings in the last couple of years, Howe and his staff have instead continued to innovate and push a spirited group of players.
It said it all that when one concerned Newcastle star messaged Howe to check in on him during his illness, the relentless 47-year-old 'just wanted to speak football'. Howe ultimately returned to work less than two weeks after being admitted into the RVI having felt a 'duty' to lead a group who remain desperate to get better.
Take the long-serving Jacob Murphy, who assistant Jason Tindall repeatedly maintained would be 'receiving a lot more plaudits' if the 30-year-old arrived from the continent after Liverpool star Mo Salah was the only player to register more assists in the top-flight this season.
"We've got a fantastic squad," the Newcastle number two stressed to ChronicleLive. "We know we haven't signed many players, but we have got a great group of players who are currently here at the football club.
Newcastle United assistant Jason Tindall and forward Jacob Murphy
"You're always looking to try to sign players who you think are going to improve the team but, first and foremost, you have to improve the players that you have already got at the football club. The players have responded to everything that has been asked of them. They have put in really consistent performances that I'm sure make the football club proud."
These individuals have had the benefit of extra hours on the training pitches with Howe and his staff as well as additional recovery time after squad availability dropped as low as 55% last season during the club's previous foray into the Champions League. A clearer schedule has enabled Howe to repeatedly name a settled side and only Nottingham Forest (24) have used fewer players.
Although Newcastle will need a deeper pool to cope with the intensity of the Premier League and Champions League next season, there is slight relief in the dressing room that the Magpies won't have to juggle domestic matters with a potentially arduous Europa League campaign. Burn, for instance, noted how finalists Manchester United and Spurs had 'struggled to deal with that' in the top-flight and the England international openly admitted it would have been 'the same for us next year'.
Lessons will still need to be learnt from an otherwise rare Champions League campaign last season, though, and the black-and-whites have been working 'smarter' with the help of performance director James Bunce - right down to the smallest details. It is the last thing anyone would notice in the dressing room, but the players even sit under dynamic biocentric lighting, which replicates the benefits of natural sunlight indoors, helping to regulate circadian rhythms, boost energy levels and accelerate recovery.
Yet it is easy to forget that there have still been some big-name absences this season - Newcastle lost their first-choice left-hand side through injury and suspension at such a crucial juncture of the campaign in March, for example - but others have stepped up. The quote 'No one loses if the team wins' are splashed across one of the walls inside the training ground and Harvey Barnes, who has featured more often as a substitute than a starter, has embodied those words after channeling his frustration. As one well-placed source told ChronicleLive: "Harvey is a really honest lad. I know it's a bit of a cliché, but he's the kind of guy you would want as a son-in-law."
Sandro Tonali and Harvey Barnes played their part in getting Newcastle United back into the Champions League
Barnes popped up with seven goal involvements in just six games in March and April, which helped secure five crucial wins, and the forward, Lewis Hall, Tino Livramento and, particularly, Sandro Tonali have all played their part in the evolution of the squad since Newcastle last qualified for the Champions League in 2023. In truth, Tonali has added a new dimension to the side this season after working tirelessly on his engine and his defensive game during his 10-month ban.
There had previously been an understandable reluctance to shift Bruno, the fulcrum of the team, who had long made the number six position his own, but pushing the Newcastle captain forward and dropping Tonali deeper proved something of a mid-season masterstroke when it came to the balance of the team. So much so, after coming up against Bruno, Tonali and Joelinton, one rival Premier League executive remarked to ChronicleLive: "Newcastle have got such a powerful, athletic midfield. That's not our style so they overran us."
They were not the only ones.