When Unai Emery sits down to watch Newcastle United against Aston Villa, notepad open, umpteen devices set on record, a little voice in his head is bound to whisper: “All this, you know, could have been yours.” The top-four spot in the Premier League, with its tease of Champions League football to come. The big budget for future recruitment. The plaudits for transforming Miguel Almiron from butt-of-jokes enigma to great entertainer.
Twelve months ago, almost to the day, Newcastle’s new owners believed that they had convinced Emery to shepherd them towards their future as a superclub. They explained to him the resources available, the relevance of his pedigree in European competitions to a Newcastle where midweek nights would sooner rather than later be spent in
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