Chelsea - well they can't get any worse can they? Plus Pochettino is a top manager and likely to get them back on track. Liverpool - season has been very transitional for them, but they're in form now, and with new signings to add to that, I can see them improving on this season.
Chelsea. For the approach of the American Owner financially I would love Chelsea to struggle again next season. Liverpool. They need to change their midfield almost completely so again they need to get things right which they haven’t really managed with their recent signings.
Everyone wants to see Chelsea struggle, but surely they'll improve next season? Especially assuming if they get Pochettino, who's a winner. Liverpool look like a complete mess earlier in the season, but now look like they're managing to form a new team. With the rest of the old guard going in the summer, i think they'll make some big signings and look like a proper team again. We've taken advantage of the both being way off this season, and need to make we improve significantly over the summer too.
The point is we could have a lesser season, but nothing that Arsenal, Liverpool, Man U, Chelsea and now Spurs haven’t done. Staying to 6 in this league is always going to be hard particularly looking at Villa and Brighton emerging. We never thought we’d ever be competing for anything let alone playing CL football. It’s hard because fans are so desperately fickle.
I don't subscribe to the idea Newcastle can't stay in the top 4.....they'll buy maybe as many as 8 players and 3 or 4 will be top quality.
True standards are ridiculously high these days, if you look at the team Blackburn won the league with in 95, it's kind of...****e. Our current squad would have comfortably won the league in 96, but aren't close this season. I can see a £100m+ spend to keep us in top 4.
Fans of all the top teams (which we are one of now) need to understand that Champions league qualification is no longer a given in a good season. There are more than 4 clubs capable of putting together a top 4 team and it should be a genuine battle now for everyone bar Man City. I think to maintain top 6 or 7 next year would be a great result when combined with our first year in a while of regular midweek games. Top 4 is still possible, but not expected for me.
I don't think it's vastly different tbh, if you look at the table now, and compare it to the traditional "top 6", it's not that different, just Chelsea and Spurs have crashed out due to having manager/owner **** messing up their seasons. I agree top 4 definitely not guaranteed...just looking at this season we've only just made it after what everyone has regarded as an amazing season, Liverpool nearly popped us despite everyone saying who bad their season has been.
I think we will struggle to match top 4 PL performance this year but will win the Chamipons League thus ensuring we are in it again the following season. The way the Champions League payments for Group Stages are biased towards a teams appearance in competition over last 10years means it won’t be much of a money spinner for a while unless we qualify for knockout stages.
People falling for the voices in the media telling themselves what they want to hear Newcastle will compete for everything now.
Top 8, cup run, 3rd place in the group stage and a decent run in the EL. Will modify this once we see the signings roll in. How much extra cash do we get just for qualifying for the CL? It'll be quite the bonanza!
I think somehwere around £30-£40m, depending on what we get for the co-efficient (probably quite low) and TV etc. Then the there are the bonuses per game based on results/ progress through the competition.
More than you would get for winning the EL I suppose. It is a good whack and will be a great kick starter.
https://editorial.uefa.com/resource...8158cd3-1000/20220704_circular_2022_47_en.pdf CL money breakdown!
