IT is the final few moments before Newcastle United’s home game against Manchester United last season, and Eddie Howe is delivering his team talk in the dressing room at St James’ Park.

After reading out comments from Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag suggesting that Newcastle’s players look to slow the game down and restrict the amount of the time the ball is in play, Howe urges his side to produce a positive response. “If they want a quick game coming here,” says Howe. “Let’s f***ing give it to them.”

As a taster for the four-part documentary series, ‘We Are Newcastle United’, that begins on Amazon Prime tomorrow, the clip is a perfect illustration of why the behind-the-scenes footage promises to be so captivating. Viewers will get a rare look into the heart of the inner sanctum of the dressing room, as well being shown exclusive footage from board meetings at Alnwick Castle and a squad visit to the home of Newcastle’s chairman, Yasir al-Rumayyan, in Saudi Arabia.

The level of access granted to the documentary makers is remarkable, but even so, Sean Longstaff is adamant they must have spent hours poring over their footage to get the clip before the Manchester United game that has already made heads turn. Eddie Howe. Swearing. It doesn’t happen very often.

“We’ve all been speaking about that clip of the manager,” said Longstaff, who was one of the players to attend the gala launch of the Amazon series at Newcastle’s Tyneside Cinema last week. “I think they found the only time he swore! We were all laughing about that.

“It’s mad really. It massively shows how much the club has changed. Things like this, and tours of America, are a far cry from where we were a few years ago. It’s certainly a bit different to when we had the pre-seasons at York. As we’re more successful on the pitch, that will help everything else grow. It’s all just really exciting.”

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The second episode of ‘We Are Newcastle United’ features a section focusing on Longstaff before, during and after the second leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final, in which his two goals against Southampton took Newcastle to Wembley.

As a hometown hero, born and raised in North Shields, Longstaff’s narrative is a compelling one, yet as one of the lower-profile members of the squad, he readily admits he wondered if he would be passed over when the cameras began to roll.

“Haha, yeah, I tried to get on,” laughed the midfielder. “I was thinking, ‘Am I ever going to get on this thing?’ It was good to have them around. You watch so many different programmes, like the American ones. I absolutely love them, so the fact we’re on one is great.”

The documentary charts the 18 months from Amanda Staveley’s Saudi Arabia-backed consortium’s successful buyout of Mike Ashley to May’s qualification for the Champions League. It is a story of remarkable progress, yet as thoughts turn to the forthcoming campaign, there is an acceptance that a new challenge has arrived.

Not only do Newcastle find themselves having to cope with life in the Champions League, they also have a target on their back in the Premier League after gatecrashing the top four last season.

It is a new experience for a player like Longstaff, who was part of the squad that was perennially battling at the wrong end of the table under the ownership of Ashley and management of Steve Bruce, but one the North-Easterner is ready to embrace.

“The more successful you are, the more people want to tear you down,” he said. “Inside the club and the team, we’re as tight as you can be. We don’t let anything in.

“Even on the first day back, that was the manager’s big message - we have to stick together. If it doesn’t go as smoothly as last year, we have to stick together, and we know we’ve got a good enough squad to come out of it.”

That squad has been improved this summer thanks to the addition of Italy international Sandro Tonali, England international Harvey Barnes and highly-regarded youngster Tino Livramento.

Tonali, who skippered Italy Under-21s at the European Championships earlier this summer, is a direct rival to Longstaff in central midfield, with Elliot Anderson and Lewis Miley also having made giant strides in pre-season that suggest they too are ready to compete for a midfield starting spot this season.

“I’m just as worried about Lewis,” smiled Longstaff. “But whenever you bring in better players, you get to see where you are. Sandro is a full international, and that’s like Bruno (Guimaraes) and Jo (Joelinton). The chance to play against them in training and with them at the weekend can only improve you. The game certainly gets easier when you play with better players.

“Am I a regular now? I don’t know. It’s more a case of thinking week to week, game by game. Just try to play as many as I can. Yes, last season was good and finished on a positive, but that’s finished now and it all starts again from scratch. I know I have to win my place back and to do that, I have to be playing well every week, training well too, but that is something I am looking forward to.”

And if all goes to plan over the course of the next nine months, Longstaff could be helping to make amends for the other game against Manchester United that figures prominently in ‘We Are Newcastle United’, the Carabao Cup final defeat at Wembley that clearly still rankles with each and every member of the Magpies squad.

“We knew that the Cup final had come at a weird time for us,” said Longstaff. “We were missing Popey (Nick Pope) and Joe Willock wasn’t properly fit. The core of our team wasn’t quite there at that time, and we sort of knew if we played them at a different time we might get a different result.

“But last year gave us the foundation and we all know now that we are good enough to win big games and hopefully win trophies. There have been some top, top players who have been at this club who were never able to do it. If we can do it, we will be in the history books forever, and I think that is what Newcastle fans want.”