HOW time flies! This time last year, Newcastle United were heading out of the Premier League, heads bowed, after local rivals Sunderland had secured their place in the elite with an easy win over Everton.
In 2016/17, there was a complete turnaround. Having retained the services of manager Rafa Benitez, the Magpies made an immediate return to the top flight, and added the Championship title on the final day in dramatic fashion.
Meanwhile, Sunderland have found themselves completely out of their depth, with relegation arriving on Wearside with weeks of the season still to spare.
Of course, every season has some matches - and, indeed, some moments of matches - which end up sticking in the memory longer than others.
So, here is my personal run-down of the stand-out results which ended up taking Newcastle to the title.
17-Aug v Reading (H) W4-1
The immediate response to this result was undoubtedly relief. Having lost the opening two games of the campaign away to Fulham and at home against Huddersfield Town, victory over the Royals was what could only be described as a nerve-settler. Even in the course of this contest, though, Newcastle made life hard for themselves, conceding on the stroke of half-time for the third match in a row. Thankfully, a strong second half performance secured the points as Dwight Gayle scored a brace, with one of his goals coming from a glorious free-kick.
13-Sep v Queens Park Rangers (A) W6-0
Newcastle had racked up five league and cup wins in a row as they made the trip to west London to face Queens Park Rangers at Loftus Road - and those early season nerves seemed to have entirely receded on a night of complete domination from Benitez's men. The Magpies peppered the Rangers' goal continuously and a remarkable total of 29 shots brought half-a-dozen goals even without the services of Gayle who sat on the bench for the full 90 minutes.
28-Sep v Norwich City (H) W4-3
Gayle was back in the starting line-up for the fixtures which followed - but a league defeat at home to Wolverhampton Wanderers and a draw at Aston Villa had left Newcastle playing catch-up again. On one of the craziest nights of recent years at St James Park, it looked - at first - as if it was going to get worse. Newcastle missed a hatful of first half chances, conceded another penalty on the stroke of half-time, and then somehow found themselves 3-1 down mid-way through the second half.
But, with one glorious 60-yard pass, Jonjo Shelvey turned the match back in United's favour: having let the ball run over his shoulder, Gayle controlled it brilliantly before slotting the ball home with his second touch. The goalscorer immediately retrieved the ball from the back of the net and there followed a spell of relentless Newcastle pressure amid a feverish atmosphere.
To their credit, Norwich held out until deep into stoppage time before Yoan Gouffran bundled home an equaliser in the 95th-minute from six yards. But, even then, there was to be one final twist as yet another Shelvey ball forward was chested down by Aleksandar Mitrovic for Gayle to slot coolly into the bottom left-hand corner of the Leazes net. Newcastle had gone from ninth in the table up to third in the space of a few seconds.
18-Oct v Barnsley (A) W2-0
This was a fairly run-of-the-mill win by Championship standards as a goalless game at the interval inevitably turned in Newcastle's favour thanks to the goalscoring instincts of Gayle. Another two goals at Oakwell - including a beautifully lofted finish for his second - put the Walthamstow-born forward into double figures for the season as early as mid-October. Perhaps most significantly though, this result put Newcastle top of the table for the first time all season amid a winning run which dated back to that glorious Norwich comeback. Could Benitez's team do it on a cold Tuesday night in Barnsley? The question was unequivocally answered there in a positive fashion.
20-Nov v Leeds United (A) W2-0
The winning run continued and had reached eight league-and-cup games by the time Newcastle arrived at Elland Road for a Sunday lunchtime kick-off against Leeds United. The Yorkshire outfit were enjoying their best season in years with Gary Monk at the helm and appeared well-set to provide the Magpies with arguably their sternest match of the season. But, as it happened, Newcastle were in control from the start - and, though it took a howler from Rob Green in goal to gift-wrap the first for Gayle, a superbly-worked second goal ensured this would be one of the most comfortable wins of the season. Instead, in typical Newcastle fashion, the nine-match win streak would end at home to lowly Blackburn Rovers six days later...
29-Nov v Hull City (A) D1-1, lost 1-3 on penalties
In fairness to Newcastle, the Blackburn match was not the priority that week - all eyes already were on the League Cup quarter final tie against Premier League strugglers Hull City. The comparative confidence of both teams was in evidence throughout the tie but Newcastle were wasteful in front of goal and the match drifted into extra-time.
Shorn of a man following the dismissal of Dieumerci Mbokani, Hull continued to be put on the back-foot and United eventually appeared to have got their reward through former Hull man Mo Diame. Within seconds though, the Tigers had equalised as error-prone Belgian goalkeeper Mats Selz parried the ball straight out to Robert Snodgrass. The momentum was lost and never regained and three awful misses in the prevailing penalty shoot-out - from Gayle, Shelvey and Gouffran - wrote another chapter into the Magpies' woeful spot-kick history.
It seems odd to include this match in the middle of a list of Championship wins but, though the night in Hull ended in disappointment, the cup run which preceded it had brought genuine excitement to Tyneside, with the 6-0 home thumping of Preston North End proving to be the highlight. After all, the cups remain the best chance of Newcastle tasting some sort of top-level glory - and hopefully this will serve only as some sort of aperitif under Benitez.
10-Dec v Birmingham City (H) W4-0
Back to business in the league - and a bad week following the defeats to Blackburn and Hull was made immeasurably worse by the refereeing incompetence of Steve Martin against Nottingham Forest. Martin appeared to audition in the role of his comedy namesake in a film about how not to take charge of a football match as he sent off Paul Dummett and Shelvey - both red cards were later rescinded - and also gave Forest two penalties, both of which were saved by former Reds man Karl Darlow. Forest eventually won the match 2-1 but only after an unfortunate late own goal from another former Reds man Jamaal Lascelles.
It was to some relief then that Newcastle were able to put the nightmare at the City Ground behind them as an accomplished performance easily saw off Birmingham City in the first of four meetings this season against the Blues. Gayle scored a perfect hat-trick as goals with his head, left-foot and right-foot sent Newcastle on their way to an easy win in the final home game before Christmas.
30-Dec v Nottingham Forest (H) W3-1
Newcastle remained top of the table at Christmas following away wins at Wigan Athletic and Burton Albion - but were beaten 1-0 by Sheffield Wednesday at home in a poor performance on Boxing Day. In a sense then, Forest was the perfect next fixture - a sense of injustice over what had occurred earlier in the month remained and contributed to a heady atmosphere already topped up by a festive sherry or two.
A deflected Matt Ritchie free-kick after only four minutes stoked up the crowd even more but Forest recovered and came back into the contest to equalise before half-time. Newcastle were not to be denied their revenge, however, as yet another Gayle brace righted the wrong of exactly four weeks earlier.
20-Feb v Aston Villa (H) W2-0
There was more revenge in the air just over seven weeks later with Villa as the visitors to St James Park for a Monday night fixture. That was mainly down to one man: Henri Lansbury. The failed Arsenal graduate directly led to two Newcastle players being sent off in the match away at Forest in early December - and then, having missed the return of fixture at St James Park, transferred from Forest to Villa in January.
Belatedly appearing at St James, Lansbury was again centre of attention - but this time for all the wrong reasons from his perspective. Stood on the post defending a second-half corner, Lansbury had the task of clearing a goal-bound Lascelles header. Instead, he could only touch the ball onto the post with the rebound coming off his heel and into the net, and the Gallowgate erupted as he clutched the upright in despair. That was the second goal following a scrappy effort at the end of the first half from Yoan Gouffran - as Newcastle breezed to victory. Never has karma been so richly observed.
28-Feb v Brighton & Hove Albion (A) W2-1
Tougher tests than Villa still awaited Newcastle, however - though none tougher than Brighton & Hove Albion. The Seagulls - managed by Chris Hughton who had got Newcastle promoted seven years earlier - would match the Magpies stride-for-stride during the campaign. In fact, the two dropped points at home to Bristol City, had cost United top spot heading into this contest. Nevertheless, Benitez's men would return to the summit following a dramatic finish on the south coast.
A soft penalty - awarded following a 50-50 skirmish between Ciaran Clark and Glenn Murray - allowed Brighton to take the lead after just 14 minutes though the home side had dominated the opening spell. Hughton's men missed chances to extend their lead, however, and Newcastle gradually grew in confidence, pushing hard in the second half for an equaliser.
Eventually, on 80 minutes, it came - though it came in the most fortunate of fashion, with the ball looping off Diame's heel from Christian Atsu's initial effort. More spectacularly still, a winner arrived and it was a goal of real quality as Ritchie pinged the ball out to Atsu who fired a low cross to Ayoze Perez. The Spaniard finished clinically from 12 yards.
04-Mar v Huddersfield Town (A) W3-1
Buoyed by success on the south coast, United next headed to west Yorkshire for another top-of-the-table clash against Huddersfield Town - and the confidence emanating from the team following the Brighton result was in evidence as the Magpies took a 2-0 lead into half-time through goals from Ritchie and valuable low-key signing Daryl Murphy.
David Wagner's Terriers had plenty of the ball but had been restricted largely to pot-shots from range until Shelvey conceded a daft penalty. Aaron Mooy converted for the hosts - but Newcastle continued to remain calm and even got a third on the break as the returning Gayle made the most of his appearance off the bench by wrapping up the points. Hell week was not even quite over - United still had Reading away to play - but two wins in five days had put already put them in an almost impenetrable position... or so it would seem.
05-Apr v Burton Albion (H) W1-0
It was natural perhaps that Newcastle had considered their work was over with those wins over Brighton and Huddersfield, and the Magpies picked up only one point out of their next three games against Reading, Fulham and Birmingham. Wigan were beaten at least but Burton at home looked like a real banana skin.
Ultimately the Brewers provided little threat but Newcastle were almost denied victory by another incredible display of incompetent officiating, this time from Hampshire referee Keith Stroud. Having awarded the Magpies a penalty which Ritchie converted, Stroud disallowed the goal and blew for an indirect free-kick to Burton, though only after about seven minutes of consultation with his linesman and the fourth official. Numerous theories abounded with the decision taking so long - had Gayle fouled his marker in the seconds between the whistle and the strike? Had the slight feint from Ritchie been classed as ungentlemanly conduct?
It was eventually confirmed that the decision had been made because of encroachment - but, as Newcastle had scored, the penalty should have been retaken. Regardless, Newcastle were not ahead - and the controversy naturally had an effect on the players who made heavy work of the game. All with the exception of Ritchie. On several occasions across the season, Ritchie's sheer desire dragged the Magpies through - but the Scotland international is not just a workhorse and his quality was evident in his eventual goal in this match, a fine right-footed curler at the Leazes end. Chalk that one off, Stroud.
24-Apr v Preston North End (H) W4-1
Even after the back-to-back Wigan and Burton wins, Newcastle had another wobble - one point from nine against Sheffield Wednesday, Leeds and Ipswich Town had left United looking over their shoulders again. The defeat at Ipswich on Easter Monday looked particularly costly as, though Huddersfield were eight points behind, they had two games in hand, one of which was played later that night against Derby County.
Huddersfield took an early lead against the Rams but a late Jacob Butterfield equaliser stopped the Terriers from gaining too much ground - and United were off the hook. The Terriers subsequently lost their way altogether - and a home defeat for them against Fulham combined with Reading's reverse at Forest gave Newcastle the chance to wrap up promotion with two games to spare.
That chance was taken with a minimum of fuss against a kindly opposition in Preston. True, North End equalised Perez's early goal but - once the visitors had been reduced to ten men - Newcastle simply had too much. Indeed, the midpoint of the second half, when Perez scored his second and Newcastle's fourth, signalled the start of a promotion party with the players celebrating in front of the Gallowgate end before Benitez joined them to acknowledge the adulation.
It was job done - or so it appeared - but, with just two games left and Brighton still four points clear, it also looked as if Newcastle would only be going up as runners-up...
07-May v Barnsley (H) W6-0
Then Brighton wobbled - rocked by a bizarre defeat to Norwich in which goalkeeper David Stockdale scored two own goals, the Seagulls suffered another more straight-forward reverse against Bristol City by simply failing to turn up at all. Suddenly, the title race was back on - though, with Brighton playing at Villa, Newcastle were still second favourites.
All that the Magpies could do was their own job - and goals from Perez, Chancel Mbemba, and yet another strike from Gayle sealed the points easily. It was less clear what was going on at Villa Park with rumour and counter-rumour spreading across the Gallowgate, not helped by a lack of phone reception. Eventually it was established that Brighton had gone 1-0 up through a penalty and Villa were down to 10 men. Hopes of the title dashed?
Not so - for, just as a confused atmosphere at St James considered promotion without a title, news of a Villa goal filtered through and then to an ear-shattering roar were confirmed, only moments after Gayle had celebrated in front of the Strawberry corner in style. A nervous wait then ensued with full time at Villa Park coming a few minutes after the game at St James had already finished.
Suddenly, another roar went up and the players began dancing on the pitch amid wild celebrations in the stands. Brighton had indeed only managed to draw, Newcastle were going up as champions. A stage was hastily built on the half-way line and the players were called out one-by-one before enjoying a lap of honour with their families. Benitez followed only slightly behind to take in hero-worship from all four corners. It was the stuff of dreams.
After the game, the fans poured out into Newcastle city centre, the pubs were packed and loud amid the singing of regular terrace songs. Mbemba parked his car up outside of Central Station and was mobbed by supporters who lauded him with his own chant. It was all wonderfully joyous.
This week brought the news that Benitez would be staying at St James Park and embarking on the next stage of his project - or Rafalution, as it has come to be known on Tyneside.
Promotion and the title win can be considered mission accomplished but only in the sense that it was the job that needed to be done first.
Now for the next step in which we will find out just how solid the foundations of the Rafalution are.
NUFC 2016-17 FIXTURE LIST
| Date | KO | TV/Cup |
|
| Scorers | Att |
| 05-Aug | 7.45pm | Sky | Fulham (A) | 0-1 |
| 23,922 |
| 13-Aug |
|
| Huddersfield Town (H) | 1-2 | Gayle | 52,079 |
| 17-Aug | 7.45pm |
| Reading (H) | 4-1 | Hayden, Ritchie, Gayle 2 | 48,209 |
| 20-Aug |
|
| Bristol City (A) | 1-0 | Gayle | 22,512 |
| 23-Aug | 7.45pm | LC2 | Cheltenham Town (H) | 2-0 | Perez 2 | 21,972 |
| 27-Aug | 5.30pm | Sky | Brighton & Hove Albion (H) | 2-0 | Lascelles, Shelvey | 49,196 |
| 10-Sep | 5.30pm | Sky | Derby County (A) | 2-0 | Gouffran, Yedlin | 30,405 |
| 13-Sep | 7.45pm |
| Queens Park Rangers (A) | 6-0 | Shelvey 2, Perez, Clark
Mitrovic, Hanley | 17,404 |
| 17-Sep |
|
| Wolverhampton Wanderers (H) | 0-2 |
| 52,117 |
| 20-Sep | 7.45pm | LC3 | Wolverhampton Wanderers (H) | 2-0 | Ritchie, Gouffran | 34,735 |
| 24-Sep | 5.30pm | Sky | Aston Villa (A) | 1-1 | own goal (Elphick) | 32,062 |
| 28-Sep | 7.45pm |
| Norwich City (H) | 4-3 | Gayle 3, Gouffran | 48,236 |
| 01-Oct |
|
| Rotherham United (A) | 1-0 | Atsu | 11,653 |
| 15-Oct |
|
| Brentford (H) | 3-1 | Clark, Gayle 2 | 51,885 |
| 18-Oct | 7.45pm |
| Barnsley (A) | 2-0 | Gayle 2 | 18,597 |
| 22-Oct |
|
| Ipswich Town (H) | 3-0 | Perez 2, Ritchie | 51,963 |
| 25-Oct | 7.45pm | LC4 | Preston North End (H) | 6-0 | Mitrovic 2, Diame 2, Ritchie, Perez | 49,042 |
| 29-Oct |
|
| Preston North End (A) | 2-1 | Mitrovic 2 | 20,724 |
| 05-Nov |
|
| Cardiff City (H) | 2-1 | Atsu, Gouffran | 51,257 |
| 20-Nov | 1.15pm | Sky | Leeds United (A) | 2-0 | Gayle 2 | 36,002 |
| 26-Nov |
|
| Blackburn Rovers (H) | 0-1 |
| 52,092 |
| 29-Nov | 7.45pm | LCQF | Hull City (A) | 1-1* | Diame | 16,243 |
| 02-Dec | 7.45pm | Sky | Nottingham Forest (A) | 1-2 | Ritchie | 21,317 |
| 10-Dec |
|
| Birmingham City (H) | 4-0 | Gayle 3, Gouffran | 52,145 |
| 14-Dec | 7.45pm | Sky | Wigan Athletic (A) | 2-0 | Diame, Atsu | 14,562 |
| 17-Dec |
|
| Burton Albion (A) | 2-1 | Gayle, Diame | 6,665 |
| 26-Dec | 7.45pm | Sky | Sheffield Wednesday (H) | 0-1 |
| 52,179 |
| 30-Dec | 7.45pm |
| Nottingham Forest (H) | 3-1 | Ritchie, Gayle 2 | 52,228 |
| 02-Jan |
| Sky | Blackburn Rovers (A) | 0-1 |
| 18,254 |
| 07-Jan |
| FAC3 | Birmingham City (A) | 1-1 | Murphy | 13,171 |
| 14-Jan |
|
| Brentford (A) | 2-1 | Gayle, Murphy | 11,435 |
| 18-Jan | 7.45pm | FAC3R | Birmingham City (A) | 3-1 | Ritchie 2, Gouffran | 34,896 |
| 21-Jan |
|
| Rotherham United (H) | 4-0 | Murphy, Ritchie 2, Perez | 52,208 |
| 28-Jan |
| FAC4 | Oxford United (A) | 0-3 |
| 11,810 |
| 01-Feb | 7.45pm |
| Queens Park Rangers (H) | 2-2 | Shelvey, Ritchie | 47,909 |
| 04-Feb |
|
| Derby County (H) | 1-0 | Ritchie | 52,271 |
| 11-Feb | 5.30pm | Sky | Wolverhampton Wanderers (A) | 1-0 | Mitrovic | 24,876 |
| 14-Feb | 7.45pm |
| Norwich City (A) | 2-2 | Perez, Lascelles | 26,841 |
| 20-Feb | 8.00pm | Sky | Aston Villa (H) | 2-0 | Gouffran, own goal (Lansbury) | 50,024 |
| 25-Feb |
|
| Bristol City (H) | 2-2 | own goal (Smith), Clark | 52,131 |
| 28-Feb | 7.45pm | Sky | Brighton & Hove Albion (A) | 2-1 | Diame, Perez | 30,230 |
| 04-Mar | 5.30pm | Sky | Huddersfield Town (A) | 3-1 | Ritchie, Murphy, Gayle | 23,213 |
| 07-Mar | 8.00pm |
| Reading (A) | 0-0 |
| 23,121 |
| 11-Mar |
|
| Fulham (H) | 1-3 | Murphy | 51,903 |
| 18-Mar |
|
| Birmingham City (A) | 0-0 |
| 19,796 |
| 01-Apr |
|
| Wigan Athletic (H) | 2-1 | Gayle, Ritchie | 51,849 |
| 05-Apr | 7.45pm |
| Burton Albion (H) | 1-0 | Ritchie 2 | 48,814 |
| 08-Apr | 5.30pm | Sky | Sheffield Wednesday (A) | 1-2 | Shelvey | 28,883 |
| 14-Apr | 7.45pm | Sky | Leeds United (H) | 1-1 | Lascelles | 52,301 |
| 17-Apr |
|
| Ipswich Town (A) | 1-3 | Murphy | 25,684 |
| 24-Apr | 7.45pm | Sky | Preston North End (H) | 4-1 | Perez 2, Atsu, Ritchie | 50,212 |
| 28-Apr | 7.45pm | Sky | Cardiff City (A) | 2-0 | Atsu, Hayden | 23,153 |
| 07-May | 12pm |
| Barnsley (H) | 3-0 | Perez, Mbemba, Gayle | 52,276 |
Kick-off 3pm unless stated. NUFC score listed first. Sky appearances: 17
*after extra time. Lost 1-3 on penalties.
SCORERS
23 Dwight Gayle
16 Matt Ritchie
12 Ayoze Perez
7 Yoan Gouffran
6 Mohamed Diame, Aleksandar Mitrovic, Daryl Murphy
5 Christian Atsu, Jonjo Shelvey
3 Ciaran Clark, Jamaal Lascelles
2 Isaac Hayden
1 Grant Hanley, Chancel Mbemba, DeAndre Yedlin
3 own goals
Total goals: 100
