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Opinion

Why don’t Newcastle United go for the Europa League final?

6 years ago
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The run to the quarter finals of the Europa League in 2012/13 is the only vaguely exciting thing that as ever happened in terms of cup competitions, since Mike Ashley walked through the door 11 years ago.

With a stated policy of not trying in the cup competitions for most of those seasons, little surprise Newcastle have never got through more than one round in the FA Cup under this owner.

If you look down the years at the Europa League you can actually see that it is a competition that is very winnable for so many clubs.

These last 15 years have seen the likes of Fulham, Rangers, Middlesbrough, Dnipro, Braga and others get to the final.

Whilst Sevilla, a club outside that all powerful trio in Spain, almost made it their own personal property with three recent wins in a row.

What about the hosts though?

Obviously it would be a dream for Newcastle to get to the final but as well as that, there is nothing at all to stop the club putting it self forward for St James Park to host the final.

As a typical Geordie, I love it when people come to our city and go away singing its praises.

SJP has hosted plenty of rugby in recent years but I get the impression that it has been simply a case of NUFC being approached to be hosts and saying yes, handing the stadium over in return for a few quid in the bank.

Why not go for the Europa League final? Is it just too much hassle and the fact that the Sports Direct advertising would have to disappear, with UEFA taking over the stadium for the night?

Down below are the last 15 Europa League finals and all but two of those are well under the St James Park capacity, though even those two are only marginally above SJP – 52,347 in 2012 when Bucharest hosted, then this (2018) year when 55,768 filled Lyon’s stadium.

Next season it is the Baku Olympic Stadium in Azerbaijan in 2019 (68,700), then Arena Gdansk in 2020 (various claims of capacity as being somewhere between 41,620 – 43,615).

It would be a brilliant boost for both the club’s credibility and for the city.

So why not Newcastle in 2021?

(39,000) 2004 Gothenburg – Valencia 2 Marseille 0

(47,085) 2005 Lisbon – CSKA Moscow 3 Sporting Lisbon 1

(33.100) 2006 Eindhoven – Sevilla 4 Middlesbrough 0

(47,602) 2007 Hampden Park – Sevilla 2 Espanyol 2 (Sevilla won on penalties)

(43,878) 2008 Manchester City – Zenit 2 Rangers 0

(37,357) 2009 Istanbul – Shakhtar 2 Werder Bremen 1

(49,000) 2010 Hamburg – Atletico Madrid 2 Fulham 1

(45,391) 2011 Dublin – Porto 1 Braga 0

(52,347) 2012 Bucharest – Atletico Madrid 3 Athletic Bilbao 0

(46,163) 2013 Amsterdam – Chelsea 2 Benfica 1

(33,120) 2014 Juventus – Sevilla 0 Benfica 0 (Sevilla win on penalties)

(45,000) 2015 Warsaw – Sevilla 3 Dnipro 2

(34,429) 2016 Basel – Sevilla 3 Liverpool 1

(46,961) 2017 Solna (Sweden) – Man Utd 2 Ajax 0

(55,768) 2018 Lyon – Atletico Madrid 3 Marseille 0
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