The £300m Saudi-Arabia-led takeover of Newcastle United was confirmed early in October of last year with the club now having the wealthiest owners in world football. In comparison, the next wealthiest owner is Sheikh Mansour of Manchester City who has an estimated net worth of £23.2 billion compared to the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund with a net worth of around £320 million.
Following 14 years under the reigns of Mike Ashley, Newcastle United fans have something to cheer about with ambitions for the club set high for the coming seasons.
But how much of a threat do Newcastle United pose to the likes of Manchester City, Liverpool, Arsenal, Tottenham and Manchester United? Could they realistically challenge for the title or the Champions League?
It’s extremely unlikely that the Magpies will be challenging for the title like they did in the mid-nighties but without a doubt, they’ll be an improved side next season following a highly anticipated summer transfer window.
Shortly after the takeover was announced, some of the best bookies were offering specials on Newcastle’s coming seasons such as:
- Newcastle win the Premier League in the next 5 seasons – 8/1
- Newcastle win the Champions League in next 5 seasons – 33/1
- Newcastle win a trophy in the 2022/23 season – 20/1
- Newcastle finish top 4 next season – 25/1
However, although excited about their club’s future in the long term, NUFC fans are not getting too ahead of themselves yet as their immediate future is dependent on their results in their remaining games this season. Howe’s side are still in a relegation battle and much of who they can bring in throughout the summer will depend on whether or not they can avoid the drop.
Newcastle struggled to attract big names in the January window due to their league position and the possibility of the club dropping down into the Championship for the third time in twelve years. Whether or not they did enough business remains to be seen but the arrival of players such as Kieron Trippier, Bruno Guimaraes and Dan Burn will surely increase their chances of survival.
However, the news of Trippier’s broken foot which was sustained during Newcastle’s match against Aston Villa in Feb was a huge blow for the club and considering Guimaraes has yet to receive any significant pitch time, Newcastle’s squad is not that much different from before the January window opened.
Getting both Trippier and their start striker, Callum Wilson, back to full fitness is a priority for Newcastle but they’ll need to dig deep to pick up results in their coming matches without the duo.
That said, Newcastle’s performances have been on the up of late and they have now recorded consecutive victories in their last three league matches which has lifted them out of the relegation zone.
If Newcastle do remain as a Premier League club next season, it’s likely that we could see some quality players head to the North East. Whether they’ll be able to attract the biggest names in football is somewhat of a doubt but we can expect the new owners to splash the cash in the summer to ensure a top half finish at a minimum with European football being their aim.
So, are Newcastle an immediate threat to the top six?
If they stay up, certainly. We’ve seen the likes of West Ham and Wolves put pressure on the big clubs this season for a spot in Europe and so there’s no reason why Newcastle, with the money that is behind them, couldn’t do the same should they be able to attract big names in the summer.
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Not a bad article I guess but a number of elements are incorrect. First, we finished within the top 4 regularly, from 1993 to pre Ashley, ie 2007 and didnt just challenge for the title only during mid 90s but also did several times early to mid 2000s We were a regular top 4 finisher, albeit with a gap between 97/98 and 99/00 as a result of agent Dalglish dismantling our side, selling the likes of Big Les and Ginola and replacing them with the aging John Barnes and Ian Rush (and his son Paul Dalglish who was pony), further compounded by Shearers serious injury pre season. I think we only missed out on Europe once during that period. Put it this way, only several seasons prior, we finished, 3rd, 4th and 5th, yet in Ashleys FIRST season we were relegated. Finally, out of all the targets we had, all of them wanted to join the club, such as Botman, Carlos, etc. It was only their clubs demanding massively inflated fees during Jan window that stopped the transfers. Aside from that, the only player that didnt have a desire to join was Digne, who instead joined the behemoth title chasing club that is Aston Villa and to be frank, I was pleased as he cannot defend and has a questionable attitude. The time to judge us and our intent/strength will be post summer window, assuming we are still in the league.
Whether Newcastle can challenge for a European place next season or not is a byline in the big scheme of things.
The most important point is for them to be a much stronger and more competitive side.
Because the more Clubs that are not just an easy 6pts a season for the likes of City/Pool/ Chelsea, the stronger the EPL becomes..
I would love our league to have a really competitive top 10 Clubs, that on any given day are all capable of beating each other.
When can anyone remember the last start of a season that supporters genuinely couldn’t pick the expected winner from more than 2 or 3 clubs at most.
As a long term Football supporter going back to the 50’s, it really is an embarrassment that the mega rich Clubs can just buy their way to Titles, and regularly amass close to 100pts a season.
But if you can’t beat them, then join them, which is what Newcastle are doing, and as long as it makes the league stronger, then I’m all for it.