Amid their worst start since 1898, do Newcastle have a new Jack Peddle?

Amid their worst start since 1898, do Newcastle have a new Jack Peddle?

Sports fans love statistics. Sadly statistics don’t always love sports fans.

by Sean Maslin, Editor-in-Chief, Prost Amerika

It is rare these days when a statistic takes a person by surprise. Due to the changes in society, in our physical preparations matches/tests/fixtures/games, and the advancement in technology, we have altered the way in which we view records. Records that were once thought to be unachieveable are now within a player’s grasp and it is rare to see records that date back farther than 20-30 years, let alone 120.

So that’s why it was quite the surprise over the weekend when Newcastle United lost to Brighton and Hove Albion by the score of 1-0. With the loss Newcastle not only sealed their spot at the bottom for another week, they also set a record. With their sterling 0-7-2 record they achieved the worst Magpies’s start to a season since 1898. Yes, you read that right: This is Newcastle United’s worst start since 1898.

For a bit of perspective here are some of the things going on in 1898:

• Emile Zola writes J’Accusesetting up what would be known as the Dreyfus affair in France
• The Spanish-American War
• The British government arranges a 99 year lease of Hong Kong from China
• The United States annexes the Hawaiian Islands
• The first-ever fatality by an automobile accident is announced (Interestingly enough it was a person from Brighton)
• Enzo Ferrari is born
• The prime minister of Great Britain is Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, a gent who started the Second Boer War
• Pepsi Cola is created!
• H.G. Wells writed a book called War of the Worlds

So a lot has changed since then. But when one considers that the club in 1898 was just six years old at the time, that it was their first year in the English First Division, and that their players were probably making 100% less than what the current lot are making, one can give the old boys a bit of a pass.

This Newcastle side doesn’t get any sort of passes.

The Magpies are currently underperforming at levels unseen even during the Mike Ashley era. While they have allowed just 14 goals, tied for seventh best in the Premier League, their attacking work has been atrocious. They have scored just six goals through nine games, tied for second worst in the Premier League. Without their key offseason signing, Salomon Rondon, their attack has floundered. And while their defense hasn’t looked that bad, early early goals and bad defensive miscues (like DeAndre Yedlin’s own goal in their 2-1 loss to Arsenal) have really hurt the side.

The problem with Newcastle isn’t necessarily that Newcastle has started slowly. That happens to pretty much every club at the start of the season. It is that the club culture doesn’t lend itself to the idea of a comeback. Here is what happens every time that Newcastle are faced with a relegation scenario:

1. The club starts slow
2. Injuries and losses start to pile up
3. Mike Ashley begins to start sending subtle hints through the press that the coach is on thin ice
4. Former Newcastle legends begin to complain about Mike Ashley (Alan Shearer has held this position for years now).
5. Ashley does something to St. James’ Park
6. Fans begin to voice their displeasure (Actually, wait this starts with #1. Carry on.)
7. The manager is fired and either a ‘relegation specialist’ is hired or someone that will listen to Ashley’s every word.
8. A veteran of some repute signs with the club yet at the same time the club also sells off all of their assets.
9. Newcastle are relegated.

It is a predictable pattern and sadly this is the same scenario that Newcastle United supporters have found themselves in since Ashley took over control of the club. The sad state of the Magpies is that it is not a matter of if Rafa Benitez is sacked, but more of a matter of when.

There are really two types of losing.

The first type of losing is one that is constructive it is of a team that is fielding a young roster, is learning as it goes, and is taking a bunch of lumps. Losses both of the wide and narrow variety are accepted as part of a ‘process’ that either a General Manager, Technical Director, Director of Operations, or Administrative Assistant uses to give themselves time. It is a really effective term that essentially gives whomever a chance to actually do their job against the ravenous wolves that can be the press (handsome people that they are) or the fans (even more handsome of course).

Fans can even get behind this type of losing.

Go to a pub on any given Saturday or Sunday and chances are you will find one person in a random jersey with a random player on the back. It is for some reason hip to root for these sides, possibly because money is on the line or possibly because they are on their fantasy soccer team.

It used to be cool to root for Manchester City, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester United, or Tottenham. Now it is Brighton, Southampton, West Ham United, or Huddersfield Town. In the National Basketball Association these types are called ‘NBA League Pass’ teams that never make primetime.

In the USA, we can call these types in ‘NBC Sports Gold Extra’ or ‘the Sky Sports Rupert Murdoch Premium Package People’.

Then there is the other type of losing; the type that is not fun to root for or watch where there isn’t any sort of long-term planning for fans to cling their hope on. The hope is mediocrity in the league standings and that maybe at some point new ownership will come in with a fresh vision and a new perspective. That is the type of losing Magpies fans are being asked to experience.

So can Newcastle United get out of this hole?

It is quite possible. With Rondon back the pressure should be off of Joselu and Christian Atsu to produce. There are still plenty of questions in the midfield but the addition of Florian Lejeune at the center-back position should ease the pressure that the defensive midfielders currently face. But that is the short term.

In the long term Benitez might be wise to look into the past to that 1898 side.

Midway through their own malaise the Magpies took a gamble, giving a young lad by the name of Jack Peddie more opportunities in the attack.

It paid off with the club winning eleven games in the league, avoiding relegation, and Peddie leading the club in goals in with 18. He would go on to score 78 goals for the club and is considered to be a club legend. Newcastle seems to have another scoring sensation in their youth ranks in Elias Sorensen. While he might be a bit young, he might just bring the energy that the club needs to have some direction for the future.