Eddie Howe has challenged his Newcastle United players to prove they are ‘good enough’ by qualifying for the Champions League.
The race is certainly wide open at the moment. Nottingham Forest are flying in third place, but Newcastle could move within just three points of Nuno’s side by defeating the Reds at St James’ Park on Sunday. No wonder even the usually measured Howe admitted it was ‘potentially a big moment’.
Newcastle have lost three of their last four league games, and were hammered 4-0 by Manchester City last week, but this could still be a momentous campaign if the Carabao Cup finalists rediscover the consistency that propelled them up the table last month.
“I always think there’s a spot for us – not any other team,” Howe told reporters. “There’s a spot for us, for sure. If we want it enough and are good enough, the opportunity is there.”
Newcastle found a way to qualify for the Champions League a couple of years ago, of course, and Aston Villa followed in the Magpies’ footsteps last season. Leicester City, for context, were previously the only disruptor to upset the established order between 2006 and 2022, but the days of the so-called big six dominating the league feels like a thing of the past after former Newcastle owner Amanda Staveley previously slammed a group of clubs for ‘doing everything they can to make sure’ that the Champions League places were available to as few sides as possible. Nottingham Forest currently sit in third; Bournemouth have leapfrogged Chelsea into fifth; and Spurs and Manchester United are languishing in the bottom half.
With an extra spot likely to be up for grabs, on account of English sides’ performance in Europe this season, the incentive is there for Newcastle to finish in the top five and return to the Champions League. Football finance expert Professor Robert Wilson has even estimated that qualification, alone, would be worth at least £58m to the club. That’s why the stakes are high for Howe’s team going into the final months of the season.
“I don’t know if transformative is necessarily the right word, but it would certainly help in every aspect,” the Newcastle boss said. “It would help us continue our journey in a positive way, build on our experiences in the previous campaign and help the evolution of the club.
“It’s a big motivation, for me, a big driver. We want to achieve, we want excitement, we want the season to have a great end in lots of different ways. We want to give ourselves the best chance to do that in various competitions so that’s why it’s important that we get our Premier League form back on track.”
A host of sides are seeking the same thing – consistency – and the current make-up of the league table is all the more striking given that, historically, the more a club spends on wages in the top-flight, the more points they pick up per game. However, Nottingham Forest have been among those sides to buck the trend this season despite spending restrictions.
Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis has been an outspoken critic of the current PSR rules, having labelled the regulations ‘an unfair system’ after his side were handed a four-point deduction last season, while Newcastle narrowly escaped a breach back in June following a late dash to raise funds, which saw Elliot Anderson move to the City Ground and Odysseas Vlachodimos go the other way in a separate deal.
Senior figures have repeatedly insisted Newcastle never want to be in that situation again – it is no coincidence that the Magpies have ended the last two windows in profit – and trading will continue to be a key part of the club’s strategy moving forward. That’s why the current group’s performances in the weeks and months ahead will take on added significance.
“They have to impress every day,” Howe added. “That’s their job. You can’t live off past performances. I very much have to take my eyes for what I see every day and make daily assessments to then lead to the next game and I’ve always lived by that. Then we move on to the next game and I’m making those assessments again.
“There are big motivations at the moment for the players to do well. We have big games coming up. I’m sure all of them want to be involved in those games so there are a lot of good opportunities for them to prove that they want to be in the team and stay in the team.”
View news Source: https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/newcastle-united-reveal-transformative-58m-31052346
