Matt Ritchie admits he is hungry to be part of a “successful era” under Rafa Benitez at St James’ Park.
When the Scotland winger told AFC Bournemouth he wanted to quit life in the Premier League to join the recently relegated Magpies last summer it raised a few eyebrows on the south coast.
Indeed, when the Chronicle broke the news that Ritchie was heading north it was met a little bit dubiously by the media down south.
Then, Ritchie had also been linked with a big move to West Ham United but he was quickly unveiled as an impressive capture by Benitez and the former Portsmouth man has proved to be a huge success on Tyneside.
But Ritchie hopes this is only the start of an exciting chapter at St James’ Park under the former Napoli and Valencia chief.
Ritchie said: “It’s been fantastic. We have been top of the league for most of it.
“We’ve had good times and hopefully we’ll continue to have successful times with the manager.
“The lads enjoy playing for him and there’s a great belief and desire to achieve success at the football club at the minute. I am delighted to be involved in it.”
And when talking about what day to day life is like working with the world class Benitez, Ritchie said: “He’s got a wealth of experience.
“He tries to put all the information that he has gathered over years across to the players and the people at the club. It’s not just the players and staff, it’s everybody at the club who are pulling in the same direction.
“Everybody wants the same thing.”
Ritchie has plenty of optimism for the weeks and months ahead at Newcastle too.
As he looks to complete his first season at Newcastle in style, he said: “We’re all just one unit and we want to stick together.
“It’s a big club and when all the people - and the fans - are pulling in the same direction we can be very powerful.
“Everybody has to stick together in the last part of the season and hopefully it can be a successful era for everybody at the club.”