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**Nick Pope - 6**
After seeing off Dubravka by the skin of his teeth the previous season, he faced the new threat of Ramsdale this season, and as the season ends, Pope again ends as number one. But as Newcastle desperately hunt for a new keeper, it feels like a pyrrhic victory for a player who's had another season of ups and downs.
Started the first twelve games and was solid enough, but awful errors against Arsenal, Marseille, Brentford and West Ham, plus various kicking incidents, brought the microscope on him before an injury kept him out for most of December and people were desperate for a change at that point. He was superb in Paris, but as our season imploded in the early Spring, so did Pope's confidence, and the nadir of Everton at home pointed towards him never playing for us again. To be fair though, like in his whole United career, he always bounces back and since returning at Arsenal, he's been decent.
We all know what he’s good at and what he's shit at, and this season we have had plenty of opportunities to applaud and bemoan both of those things.
**Aaron Ramsdale - 6**
A strange one, this.
After finally making his debut in the Carabao Cup in September, and with Pope making errors, everyone thought that Ramsdale was the answer to all our prayers. A keeper who was comfortable with the ball and hanging around 40 yards from his own goal as we kept possession. Then, after getting an extended run from Guy Fawkes’ night to Boxing Day, people decided they didn't really fancy him either and wanted Pope back in.
Ramsdale always looked like he could be beaten in nets. James’ free kick v Chelsea and the Man Utd winner at Christmas are examples of him being beaten when he ought not to have been, but was Ramsdale really that bad? Did he do all that much wrong? I don’t think he did.
But if you flip that, did he massively improve us? The answer is probably not £20m worth of improvement, so his season ended as it started, playing second fiddle and he will likely move on.
The Bournemouth cup game summed him up. Penalty heroics, but people only remembered the last minute mistake.
**Tino Livramento - 5**
You’ve got to say, Livramentos’s stock has certainly dropped within our support this calendar year, to the point where most would shrug their shoulders Gordon-style, if he does move on to pastures new, which would have been sacrilege even in the autumn.
He has missed 21 league games through knee, hamstring and thigh injuries, but it’s when he has played in 2026 that's been the issue. Barcelona second half, Sunderland last 25, and Bournemouth were possibly one of the worst trio of appearances by any Newcastle player this season and, yes, I know about Wissa. At the start of the season he played six different positions before September was out and was very good in most of those games. When Hall returned and Livramento came back in November, we only lost once in five games and we looked so good on both sides going forward. That has always been Tino’s strong point and this was the season that teams found him out defensively, especially when he was never, in truth, 100% fit.
By hook or by crook he found himself in the World Cup squad which certainly raised my eyebrow.
**Lewis Hall - 8**
Another excellent season from one of our best players. You ask most people which player we shouldn't sell at any price and most will say Hall.
He had an on/ off start to the season, and when he returned from injury, he was in most cases our stand-out performer despite some terrible team performances. Scored at Everton and in that game he was so good, as he was in all our Champions League games. Union St Gilloise was a masterclass.
Unlike Livramento, he had his longest run of games in his United career, which also helps, and despite a strange end to the season when he was dropped after a poor match against Bournemouth and tailing off a little, he's been our most consistent player.
You can count poor performances on one hand and it's been another season of an upward trajectory and not many others could say that. The World Cup will have been a major disappointment and might mean he looks elsewhere, but for now we must fight to keep him.
**Kieran Trippier - 6**
Trippier leaves with all our respect and in my Newcastle supporting life, probably the best, most trophy hungry defender we've ever had. This season he actually played more than you think.
He became a bit part player a while ago, but 37 appearances over all competitions shows he really was needed, as the players who were supposed to phase him out were either injured or out of form. After missing a chunk of the mid season, when he returned it was a different Newcastle from when he left it. We only won three league games Trippier started after January, but he was steady in the main. The only game where he looked totally off was Brentford at home and that probably looks like an aberration more than anything else.
That said, his crossing and corners were poor and it's the right time to move on. Something he knows full well. Class players always know not to outstay welcomes.
**Malick Thiaw - 8**
In a summer of foolhardy, expensive, gamble style buys, £34.6m spent on Malick Thiaw still looks like one of the best pieces of business of Howe's entire tenure.
Made his debut in that dramatic defeat to Liverpool when despite the agony, people were heard saying “That new centre half looked good, mind”. When he finally got a run of games, for about two months, he was unbelievable. Of most of the 928 minutes he played in the Champions League he was superb. The Union game saw THAT song born and after two goals at Everton it all seemed too good to be true. We just didn't sign players who took to the Premier League as seamlessly as this.
The first half of the season heroics couldn't continue at that level, and after Christmas, he's certainly looked a lot less super human and teams are working out that if you turn him towards his own goal, there is a mistake in him.
However the pre-Christmas Thiaw was incredible and has been one of our best this season. Not bad in a summer of disasters.
**Sven Botman - 6**
A steady season, which after the career low point of a few seasons ago, was one of the few plus points of a torrid season. The fact, though, that we are celebrating Botman largely coming through the season unscathed, rather than him being back to the Rolls Royce defender of yore, shows you where we are at.
He came in against Leeds away and didn't miss a game until late November, which was his best run in a few years, and though we only conceded seven goals in those ten games, he continued to look like he was changing his game and playing deeper to account for the pace being diminished. Scored an own goal at West Ham but a hamstring injury then set him back again as he missed most of December. We really missed him.
You could tell that, plus Newcastle’s form really hit his confidence after that, as he got dragged into positions he shouldn't be and he can't escape the criticism as we conceded goals for fun in the second half of the season.
Give him another pre-season and see where we are. It's a slow process but it's more crucial than we all think that Botman gets back to his best .
**Dan Burn - 6**
Again suffered in his club career for sticking his neck out and playing anywhere for the club. While this is to be applauded, the Burn at left back thing always had a shelf life and this season the evidence was it should have been discarded a long time ago. I feel sympathy for him. Howe would never shift Botman or Thiaw out to left back, but is it ok for Burn?
We don't always need to play him. If Howe prefers Botman (I still prefer Burn) that's fair enough, but you don't need to put Burn in somewhere else. The rib injury at Sunderland pleased them a lot but curtailed his season and he never really looked as good as the early season after that injury. The high point is his continued England involvement, a low point the red card at Brentford when you could see the second yellow a mile off. Like all of our players, a season of ups and downs.
**Fabian Schär - 6**
A big call for Howe in the summer on a player third on the list of appearances for this manager. The desperate ankle injury suffered against Leeds was felt a lot post-January.
Schär didn't have a classic season before his injury, but when he was injured, the lack of anyone who could pass long or beat the lines from the back and get us up the pitch was acutely missed, as we conceded around the 2 a game mark.
I mean it can be argued that we would have conceded 7 at Barcelona had he been there or not, but he was missed. More than I thought he would be.
**Alex Murphy - 4**
A season of frustration for Murphy who would have expected more than 117 minutes for the first team when his season kicked off in August. The fact he's signed a long term contract means he can afford to be patient, but as he reaches his 22nd birthday, he might start to get itchy feet after only one first team appearance against Qarabag despite the left back position being a problem for one reason or another all year. Against Qarabag he looked confident and did very well indeed. Pity that was it.
**Emil Krafth - 4**
Leaves after coming up to six years and it would have been hard to say that after the early days, he goes with good wishes.
It was time to go of course. Another season ravaged by injuries, he wasn't available post Brentford away in November and despite surprisingly starting at West Ham the week before, he was hauled off at half time in a ruthless Howe move which he didn't do with most other players throughout the season. Apart from that a couple of League Cup appearances in which he did well enough, was all we got.
**Leo Shahar - 6**
Made his breakthrough as substitute against Qarabag for three minutes but sat on the bench for the first team for the rest of the season, which again seems very underused.
Scored against Barcelona in the Uefa youth league and continued regularly for England U19s, so again has had a steady season when called upon.
**Scott Robson**