Newcastle were suppose to cruise towards UCL qualification in the 25/26 season after winning their first trophy in 7 years twelve months ago.
But the place they find themselves in right now is starkly different, with some calculations even associating a 0.07% chance of relegation for the Magpies.
After spending upwards of €250m last summer, Newcastle are sitting in a disappointing 14th place with 42 points, while suffering their 4th PL loss in a row.
At the center of discussion has been the lack of goals from the striking trio of Nick Woltemande, Yoanne Wissa and William Osula.
Event though there’s a case to be made for the lack of service from the wing areas as the quartet of Gordon, Barnes, Elanga and Murphy have largely been ineffective.
Manager Eddie Howe has also risked the wrath of the fans after moving Nick Woltemade to a midfield position.
Woltemade started his NUFC career with a bang but after a period of lull in front of goal, he saw himself get moved to an attacking midfield position in the lineup.
Despite being a lanky figure with great hold up play, the German striker often shows superb vision and weight of pass as well.
And all of that was on display during his substitute appearance against Arsenal last weekend when he almost managed to bag the assist of the season but Wissa fluffed his chance wide.
This brilliant piece of skill from Woltemade, near the goal, angered Newcastle supporters who targeted Eddie Howe for shifting him to a position that pushes him further away from the opposing team’s goal.
Things took a wild turn post-match when MagpieMedia X account reported that Woltemade has removed ‘nufc’ from his bio on Instagram as a way of showing frustration at Howe’s selection.
🚨 Nick Woltemade has REMOVED @NUFC from his Instagram bio! 😳 pic.twitter.com/G9i5vUNmuT
— Magpie Media (@MagpieMediaX) April 26, 2026
With fans already on edge, Luke Edwards of Telegraph fanned the flames by pushing a hit-piece targeting Newcastle’s ‘dud’ strikers for their lack of goal output with the photo of Woltemade being used as featured image.
A civil war broke out with some Newcastle fans calling Edwards out for being an Eddie Howe mouthpiece and throwing Woltemade under the bus.
After a load of angry response to his original tweet, the Telegraph journo doubled down on his stance on Woltemade, tweeting –
‘I like Nick Woltemade but he’s not able to play as a lone centre forward in the Premier League as things stand. And for his fanboys and girls read this statistic The German has not scored in the league since December, managing only 31 shots on goal in 30 league appearances this season with only 12 on target. Of his seven goals, one was a penalty’.
Amid all the noise, Lee Ryder of Chronicle cleared the air on Woltemade’s IG stunt, revealing that the striker removed nufc, adidas and Germany from his bio long ago and not after Arsenal loss.
Despite this confirmation, the backlash for Luke Edwards hasn’t stopped and it sums up the increasing frustration building as Newcastle face a tense end to the season.
