From Despair To Punching The Air: A Window Opens On A New Era

News yesterday that a deal had been agreed for Matias Fernandez-Pardo with his signing due to be announced today had Toon fans punching the air.

Following closely on from Nico Gonzalez who looks to be a sensational buy, young Pardo adds pace, flair and flexibility to Jaissle's attacking options right across the front line and as a 10.

Plus, how sweet is it to sign a player that Liverpool and Arsenal had an interest in - so hats off to Ross Wilson who will have brought in eight players at what seem to be near bargain prices in a market that has gone overpaying crazy.

We Needed A Transformational Window: We've Got One

Crucial, critical, no repeat of last summer...

Those were the words being bandied about for this summer's window even before the exits of Gordon, Tonali, Bruno and Trippier.

The squad had gone stale, our play was hitting brick walls in the PL, and Eddie Howe was starting to look down and drawn in his pressers - gone was the vigour and bounce.

Eddie did a fantastic job at Newcastle and will forever be remembered as the man who ended 70 years of domestic cup drought on that glorious day at Wembley.

But, nowt stays the same, and when Eddie heard that Bruno also wanted to abandon ship he decided to jump as well.

We'd lost our Admiral, Captain and some First Mates...

The Toon ship seemed rudderless and us deckhands could only see rough seas and stormy weather ahead, some even worried about us sinking into the Championship Sea.

And then, the transformation happened.

New Signings Invigorate The Squad

Old Signings Come To Life

All Under A New Young Manager

Leadership isn't just about what you say and what you do, it's also about precence, character, and showing total confidence in your ability.

Matthias Jaissle exuded all of that from the moment he was appointed.

The existing squad, and especially the new young players signed before Eddie resigned, desperately needed leadership and inspiration... and so did us fans.

In just over three weeks, Jezza has led the squad and fans from despair and worry to excitement and anticipation and capped it off with 4pts against Liverpool and Spurs.

Transformational? You bet Sherlock.

And it's not only the new signings who have transformed the squad.

Wissa, Elanga and Willock have been reborn and already have four goals between them, who would have predicted that before a ball was kicked this season?

Elanga and Wissa's arm waving dance after Yoane scored the second goal against Spurs told us everything about that rebirth and the mood in the camp.

Gordon, Tonali and Bruno... thanks, but you are now history.

We now have a reinvigorated squad of players who want to wear the shirt, want to create their own history, and a manager hell bent on achieving the sensational.

A Settling In Season? No Chance

All the talk after the exits, the arrival of young unproven PL players, and a new manager was that this season would be a settling in one.

As long as we stay up, a mid table finish would be acceptable, a decent run in a cup would be good... that was the attitude and expectation of many fans.

Not now.

I'm not getting carried away by 4pts in our first two games, but we now have genuine reasons to believe that anything is possible this season.

With the arrival of Pardo we now have forwards with possibly more pace than any other side in the Prem...

In Gonzalez we have our midfield general alongside the highly talented Lewis Miley, Dedic to compete with injury prone Tino, and defenders who will surely benefit from Jaissle's tactical input.

And, with seven goals in our first three competitive games, from four scorers, and with Pardo's shooting boots to come... the goals we worried about may not be a worry after all.

From despair...

To punching the air.

It's good to be a Toon fan this morning...

And, it;s my 73rd birthday as well.

I can't believe I'm that old...

Until I went to Specsavers yesterday and was told I need glasses.

I couldn't hear half of what the lass said to me, so I've booked a hearing test as well.

It was a transformational day for me too :)

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