Newcastle United are not likely to illicit much in the way of sympathy from rival supporters.
The nature of their ownership hardly makes Newcastle an underdog, even if simply having PIF’s millions in the bank does not tell the whole story.
Indeed, the club remain limited under FFP constraints, so they can hardly go on the kind of crazy spending sprees Manchester City and Chelsea were able to enjoy upon their takeovers.
Still, that kind of nuance (understandably) is perhaps not picked up on by rival supporters. Jurgen Klopp, after all, famously joked that the club have “no ceiling” while others could not rely on millions from the Middle East.
Newcastle clearly won’t be looking for sympathy from rivals amid their injury crisis. That is not the point.
However, according to Miguel Delaney in his Reading the Game newsletter from The Independent, the lack of sympathy has now turned to jokes.
Newcastle news: What rival clubs are now joking about amid poor run of form
Delaney claims that there have been “quips” from rival clubs about the lack of team pictures Newcastle have been able to take of late.
After every win, the club’s X (formerly Twitter) account tends to post a photo of the team celebrating inside the dressing room.
On a miserable run of form, that hasn’t happened often of late.
Delaney quotes a source as saying: “You don’t see them front and centre of photos any more.”
Newcastle news: Dressing room photos are key
There’s nothing wrong with the team photo after a win, despite jokes about it in the past.
Newcastle have been on a journey under Eddie Howe. Many of the players who started at such a low base following the Steve Bruce era have embarked on a remarkable ascendancy from almost getting relegated to the Championship to playing in the Champions League.
Why not document it? It has been exhilarating to watch.
Hopefully, we’ll get another team photo after Saturday’s FA Cup clash with Sunderland…
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