That's not us lacking class. It's us admitting that Newcastle are the bigger club but they aren't the be all and end all of North East football.
Was talking to a few newcastle lads last week in magaluf just talking about football Would seem that they werent overly hopeful of some of the speculation and think they are gonna have a bad season due to the size of their squad
I am not overly confident. A top 8 finish and a decent cup/European run would make me a happy chappy.
If only all mags were like you mate I'd happily discuss all topics with respect and good humour. You sound like all the mags I talk to from my home town who I have grown up alongside and have a good banter with. Sensible, articulate and intelligent when it comes to football. Fair play to you kidda.
A lot of people under estimate our squad. We need some additions to it, but people only consider our squad small because they don't rate our back ups. It's these back up players that played a massive part in our last season. 8th place wouldn't be satisfactory. We NEED to qualify for Europa League again next season, or we'll lose some of our best players. Top 6 is what we should aim for. Top 4 is becoming out of reach before of some of the teams spending power, but beneath the top 4, we have a good chance. 5th place is very possible.
If we achieve to our capacity, you would still expect: Mancs X2 Chelski Arsenal Spurs Liverpool to all finish ahead of us. Everton and others could also do the same if we don't keep up a head of steam. We should be aiming for 7th/8th and make sure we take all 3 cup competitions very seriously. You underestimate the effect of playing Thursday - Sunday every week, our players were dead on their feet towards the end of the season as it is.
Everyone can talk **** about how many quality players another team has and all that ****. We could have so easily finished 3rd last season, despite having "less quality" than anyone else in the top 8. I do not underestimate playing thursday and sunday "everyweek", we wont be playing this every week. We'll be playing it on certain weeks. And, as I said, people underestimate our squad. People forget that everyone else in the top 7 teams has European burdens, not just us. I'd only be happy with finishing in a none-europa league spot in the PL if we automatically qualified by winning the competition, or qualifying by getting to the final of the FA cup or winning the Carling cup. I see 5th as a very realistic finish. You say I underestimate us playing Thursday and Sunday every week, and I'll say you underestimate our Manager and club in general in terms of their pre-planning to next season. Pardew isn't ******ed, him and the club will be working hard to make sure we're prepared for next season.
And Pardew has already said we are aiming for top 8, so your theory is blown out of the water... We were helped this season by having an amazing start and finish, other teams having poor seasons by their standards, and all our competitors playing in Europe while we weren't. I hope we do as well in the league next year, but we have earned the right to dedicate one season to having a real go at the cup competitions.
haha lol After going in Newcastle airport as a football fan for the first time a few years ago, I was really surprised at the amount of Sunderland advertising going on there, I thought that the mags would have had it papered in black and white!
