NEWCASTLE: Skipper Jamaal Lascelles has admitted keeping Newcastle “united” is a much easier job now than it was under Mike Ashley and Steve Bruce.
Since the PIF majority buyout, Newcastle, as a city and as a football club, has been transformed, according to Lascelles — and the club captain said that had made his job much simpler when it comes to dressing room unity.
Lascelles has worn the United armband since 2016 and, while he does not find himself an automatic pick in the Newcastle line-up these days, he’s a valued member of the first-team group under head coach Eddie Howe.
The central defender has seen relegation and promotion, highs and lows, managerial and regime change at St James’ Park in his time as captain, but never has he seen so many leaders wearing black and white.
“There is a big mentality shift in terms of what we want. We go into every game now wanting the three points, even when we go down to Chelsea, we aren’t going there to sit back and hope to get a draw. We go there to win the game.
“That comes from the manager and it comes from the players the manager has signed.
“That’s been the quickest thing I’ve had to adapt to and it’s the most obvious thing all the players who have been here for a while have had to adjust to as well.
“We are not here just to survive anymore. We have a winner’s mentality, the club is ambitious and we are part of that. You can see that in the way we play.”
The January signings of the likes of Kieran Trippier and Dan Burn, in particular, have really added to the leadership group in the camp.
This summer is likely to see more of the “right characters” added when the transfer window opens up, a far cry from the stellar names, often overpriced and slightly past it, linked by many speculative reports across Europe.
“There’s been times here, years here, where I’ve found it difficult, trying to keep the dressing room together, keep relationships, keep things positive.
“But now, when you’ve got five, six or seven players all doing that, it just makes my job so much easier,” Lascelles said about adding strong voices into the group. “A lot of the stuff I do isn’t necessarily on the pitch at St James’. It’s on the training ground.
“You look at the bigger teams back in the day, you look at Man U, they’d have a group of players, lieutenants I guess. I think we’ve got that at the minute, like a leadership group. I think that’s a really good thing for the team.”
With safety almost secured — one further win from the final nine games is likely to seal it — the attention of the fanbase is very definitely turning to the summer and transfers.
Howe is not looking any further than Spurs on Sunday, but it is Arab News’ understanding that transfer strategy meetings have taken place on Tyneside this week, with the head coach again set to have a key role in identifying targets and convincing them that NUFC is the project for them.
Does all the speculation make things more difficult for Lascelles and the current crop?
“Not really because everyone who is involved in Newcastle at the moment is in a good situation,” he said.
“When you see all the superstars being linked to Newcastle, the thing is, we don’t know how true that all is. We also know that you cannot completely change a football team overnight, it’s going to be gradual.
“Even if that is what this club eventually turns into, it’s what is happening now that matters to us and all I know is the players who are here, we want to be involved with this football club for as long as we possibly can. It’s a great thing at the minute.
“It will be fascinating to see how that all develops in the next year and beyond that.”
