The Newcastle United photos that have divided social media and Eddie Howe’s thoughts on their publicity

For the most part, Newcastle United fans love them. Fans of other teams on social media, less so.

Starting back in December when Newcastle sealed their first victory of the season, the dressing room photo showing the whole team celebrating was mocked by many online.

Questions like ‘why are they celebrating like they have just won the league?’ have followed every photo since and with nine wins in 2022, there have been a fair few of them.

The last one, posted after Wednesday’s victory over Crystal Palace, even included co-owners Amanda Staveley, Mehrdad Ghodoussi, Jamie Reuben and Newcastle chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan who made his third visit to St James’s Park.

For many fans, the photo represents the unity that surrounds the club at this moment in time and the togetherness that has been knitted by Eddie Howe and his staff that have guided Newcastle to Premier League safety.

But what are these pictures, why are they a ‘thing’ and why have they proved so divisive online?

Howe was asked about these photos on Friday and he revealed that, although the photos are good for his team, he would have liked them to remain private:

“We haven’t decided to publish them, they’ve just found their way into the mainstream media which is something that ideally, from my side, wouldn’t happen.” Howe said.

“It’s something we did a long, long time ago to try and enjoy winning a little bit more because sometimes with the pressure that the players are under, it’s nice to have that moment to keep so you can look back on in years to come when we’re old and grey and in a different part of our lives where you snapshot that moment and it will trigger good memories.

“It was really for that reason and as I say it’s something we have done for a long, long time and it’s just now getting more publicity.

“It’s not really something that I wanted to get out, but of course it has and we’re not doing it for any other reason than to do it for our players.

“If people like it, then great. If they don’t then it’s for us.”

Next up for Newcastle United is a trip to Norwich City.