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Opinion

Sitting in a bar with Man Utd, Spurs and Liverpool fans – They came out with this about Newcastle United

2 years ago
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The Premier League fixtures are out for next season and at long last, all Newcastle United fans can look at the fixtures, dream and aim high.

Or at least way higher than what Mike Ashley had reduced our expectations to.

Not sure what people would deem a success / good season but all I know is that, whatever happens, there’s exciting times ahead, whatever nonsense other fans and the media come out with to try and dampen expectations and belittle Newcastle United.

As one of the rare Newcastle United fans living in the Amman Valley in Carmarthenshire, South Wales I was asked what I think and expect for next season.

Before the fixtures were released, I was chatting with a couple of Liverpool fans, a Man Utd fan, the other Spurs.

One piped up ‘Do you reckon you are gonna get top four like some idiots are saying then?’

Another said ‘They are going around saying they’re going to get Champions League , blah blah blah.’

So I asked the question, ‘How many Newcastle United fans have you actually spoken to, bar me?’

One of them replied with ‘Oh but they say it nearly every year, every year the pundits and the papers are saying it.’

So I asked ‘Are the pundits Newcastle fans? Are the journalists and newspaper editors Newcastle fans?’

It’s the media and the pundits that come out with this sort of thing, not actual fans . You may get the odd plank just as any fan base gets, but most Newcastle fans are happy just as long as their club / team give it a good go, try to be the best they can be.

Newcastle United fans don’t expect Champions League every year, how could any supporter realistically expect it when they have had Mike Ashley, who got us relegated twice and a number of other near misses, whilst NUFC haven’t played Champions League in nearly 20 years?

So I was then asked, what do I reckon about next season?

I said it’s a bit early as it depends on transfers and how well a team starts, but Newcastle United won’t be in a relegation scrap and I think we could catch Arsenal and give Man U and Spurs a decent run for their money, if we buy well and start the season well, but I’d say around 8th or 9th .

The Man U fan scoffed at this and said with Ten Hag in charge, Newcastle had no chance of catching Man U next season. My reply was that they only finished higher than NUFC because our takeover didn’t happen until the middle of October, meaning a disastrous first half of the season, yet the gap by the end was only nine points between Man U and Newcastle United. Also reminded him that they are still relying on players such as Harry Maguire and Scott McTominay.

I pointed out that since the takeover, Newcastle United have been in better form than Man Utd and they were lucky to get a draw at St James Park.

Man U may well still finish higher than NUFC next season but they’re not going to be 20, 30 points ahead, they’ve been on the slide since Fergie has gone and Newcastle United are now gonna be the next big boy in the making. I also told them that in my opinion, Newcastle United will win the league in the years to come before Spurs ever do and before Man U do so again.

Anyways, when the fixtures were released on Thursday, naturally I looked at them and I couldn’t help but use the table calculator and predict all of next season’s fixtures. It came up with Newcastle United finishing 6th on 70 points (the last four Premier League seasons working backwards, would have seen 70 points guarantee fifth, third third and sixth.

I don’t think we will get that if I’m honest as I probably was a tad biased with some of my predictions, however, I genuinely believe Newcastle United are capable of it with a bit of luck. I don’t think we will get near Man City, Liverpool or Chelsea next season but I don’t think it’s by any means impossible to do better than one or more of Tottenham, Manchester United and Arsenal.

With my prediction of 70 points and sixth for Newcastle United, it meant that we pipped Arsenal by three points, but Man Utd still two points ahead in fifth, with Tottenham in fourth.

Of course it’s a bit early and maybe a bit daft…but it’s nice to at last have a bit of fun and be able to look forward to a new season at last.

HTL

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