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Newcastle United
returns to the Premier League without their customary big-name
managers, high-profile signings, and unlikely ambitions after a healthy
dose of realism from a year spent in the second division.

“On the whole
people know it is a very different Newcastle team. It is one that can
stay in the Premier League and build on that to become just as big and
flamboyant as teams that have gone by,” Newcastle defender Mike
Williamson told Reuters. Guided by the understated former Tottenham
Hotspur assistant coach, Chris Hughton, Newcastle open their season at
the deep end with a trip to Old Trafford to face Manchester United on
Monday. ‘The Toon’ have been graced with soccer greats including Paul
Gascoigne, Peter Beardsley, Kevin Keegan, Chris Waddle, and Alan
Shearer in years gone by but under Hughton they have turned to youth
with a sprinkling of modest experience. “It’s a new era now and a very
different outlook that the fans have got to take. The majority of them
will be happy if we stay in the league and we build on it,” said
Williamson, a tall centre back signed from Portsmouth in January.

The club have some
exciting youngsters in big striker Andrew Carroll, new signing Dan
Gosling and Danny Simpson, who are chaperoned by the experience of Alan
Smith, Kevin Nolan, and most recently ex-Arsenal and England defender
Sol Campbell. Newcastle have six FA Cups, the last coming in 1955, and
a 1969 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup to their name, although more recently
they are remembered for an enthralling Premier League title race which
ultimately ended with Manchester United lifting the trophy in 1996.

Panic button

These days ensuring
top flight status is more of a concern. “First and foremost, the target
is to achieve the 40 points mark. I think that is probably the target
for half of the teams in the league, to secure their survival and then
build on it,” Williamson said. Hughton, twice caretaker manager at
Newcastle before taking the reins permanently in 2009, inherited a
relegated side up for sale and on the verge of crisis. A year later
they topped the Championship (second division) by 11 points to earn
promotion. “To pull a club that was on the verge of a crisis, on and
off the field, and to get the lads together and come back into the
Premier League at the first time of asking is a brilliant achievement
and he deserves a lot of credit for it,” Williamson, 26, said. “He has
a lot respect from the players. He is not a big, loud, aggressive
manager, who gives the hairdryer treatment. In general it is all about
tactics, he brings an element of calmness to the team and he always has
a focus in his mind, there are no panic buttons.”

After Manchester United, Newcastle round off August with a match at
home to Aston Villa before a trip to Wolverhampton Wanderers. Hughton
has outlined his plans of how to make this season a success, telling
the local Journal newspaper: “What we were able to do last season was
be very strong defensively. We scored a lot of goals, but we were
strong at the back. If possible, I want us to be even harder to beat
this season. The most important thing is we’ve got to give ourselves
every chance. We have to give ourselves a platform to build on and that
is at the back.”