But the year ends with the Magpies back in the top five – a position that would potentially be good enough for a place in the Champions League if it was maintained to the end of the season – and basking in the glow of five successive wins in all competitions. Oh, and with the small matter of a resounding victory at Old Trafford to celebrate too. Manchester United are hardly the side they were once were, but the ease with which Newcastle repeatedly ripped them apart in the first half of last night’s game was still hard to fathom.
Was this really the Magpies’ ‘Theatre of Nightmares’, scene of so many bad days in the past? It didn’t look that way for much of the opening 45 minutes as Newcastle scored twice, through Alexander Isak and Joelinton, hit the post through Sandro Tonali and spurned at least four other excellent opportunities to extend their advantage. Manchester United rallied after the interval, with Harry Maguire also hitting the woodwork, but unlike on a number of previous occasions where Newcastle saw promising positions disintegrate in the closing stages of a game at Old Trafford, this time there were no late scares. Isak raised his fist in celebration, Joelinton embraced Bruno Guimaraes, Eddie Howe saluted the euphoric travelling support.
So much for a hoodoo at the home of Manchester United. Sometimes, records are there to be broken. Newcastle travelled to Old Trafford having won just one of their last 39 league games at the venue, but rarely, if ev.
