I think it will be about solidifying next season, they will gradually build instead of replacing the entire 11. I think some of those signings suggested as much.
Another couple of better players sadly they will become another pain in the arse.
2 Likes
Newcastle in 2022
Lost to Cambridge
Drew with Watford
Lost to Leeds
Won against Everton
Won against Villa
Drew with West Ham
Won against Brentford
Won against Brighton
Won against Southampton
Thatâs seventeen points from their last eight PL games. I hate to say it, but Howe and the new signings have slotted in and are delivering. No doubt there will be another splurge in the summer and they will most possibly ensure European football next season.
2 Likes
They had a scare with relegation, but they have escaped its gravitational pull, added some players, and will continue to climb. Next season Europa must be the target for them. If they donât do it, I expect them to be there or thereabouts.
By the time they are looking to ensconce themselves in the CL, they will move on from Eddie Howe, but I still think that is a few years off.
The final step, to win that title, is the hardest. Becoming a regular CL team is the next hardest thing. It will be interesting to see how Chelsea fare with their ownership issues, as conceivably that might open some space up, but I suspect the hindrance to them will be fleeting.
Stavely set out a 10 year plan, I expect they may recruit slowly but firmly. One thing they now have no issues with is poaching thatâs your major difference.
2 Likes
I agree - although I do wonder how many players will push to leave Chelsea in the summer. It canât be the best thing for career and happiness to have to try to walk a line of being proud to represent a club owned by someone who has some part in this Russian invasion.
1 Like
They were a side with limitations (mostly scoring goals), but man for man looked a much better group than the position they were in. Maybe simply a reflection of being able to score goals, but also looked like a fix that shouldnt have been tha hard to make to get to something approaching mid table. To get higher than that though you kind of have to retool almost the entire squad so we shouldnt expect anything like a linear improvement from here.
You see the comments about Chelsea were a nothing club when Abramovic took over, but take a look at the squad they had in the 02-03 season, the year before he bought them and the year they pipped us to the last CL spot. Itâs going to take years for Newcastle to achieve even that level of strength, let alone what Chelsea soon became after that.
2 Likes
Yes people forget the quality they had through Bates spending Matthew Hardingâs money. Abramovic didnt build that from scratch. What his money did do was stave off bankruptcy, keep the core together and build on that base.
Itâs the ultimate sliding doors moment, as it is credibly reported he wouldnt have bought them had they failed to get into the CL. One wonders what would have meant for us given what we now know of Mooresâ willingness to sell
1 Like
I thought it was Tottenham he also considered?
It was. That was the club he was initially looking at.
1 Like
He approached Tottenham in a helicopter and looking down saw Stamford Bridge. What club is that? He asked. Rest is history.
1 Like
Indeed. Jesper GrønkjÌr unknowingly changed the face of football.
But they passed the Premier Leagueâs âfit and properâ persons test.
6 Likes
They came up with the incredibly clever reasoning that the funding is separate from the state, and the FA went, âOK well, why didnât you say so?! Welcome to Newcastle!!â
And brown envelopes under tables.
1 Like
4 Likes
I was a fan for all he did at Bournemouth but meh he signed up to that project he knew the questions would be asked.
3 Likes
No questions were asked before the war in Ukraine. Not at City. Not at Paris. Not at Sheffield. Not at Newcastle.
Roman probably the least bad person out of those 5 owners.
Anyway hope âasking questionsâ becomes a trend now and journalists go on Peps nerves all the time.
6 Likes
Well he must be deluded if he didnât expect it the irony on Roman is that itâs the last one I expected to come a cropper.
People were asking questions just not in the way they are now.
1 Like