Only Everton got close to Newcastle United
Now that the final ball of the 2023/24 Premier league season has been kicked and with some of the other teams reflecting on what could/should have been, I believe Newcastle United have once again been one of the, if not the, standout team of the season.
Many will say what about Manchester City? Winning the title, but they usually do, four in a row!
Runners up Arsenal? Tried hard but fell at the last, as they usually do!
Liverpool third? There or thereabouts, as they usually do!
Aston Villa fourth? Ending with 68 points and their first venture into the Champions League after achieving Europa Conference League qualification the previous season in 7th with 61 points, a straight swap of league positions for us and them. Good luck to them too but I don’t think they will do anywhere near as well as we did. It will be very interesting to watch how next season unfolds for them.
As for Spurs, see Liverpool, then add inconsistency, as they usually do!
Chelsea sixth and back in the picture, looking up and chasing the top four again with Pochettino… oops! Update, Chelsea have parted ways with a manage, they usually do!
Then we have Manchester United. Third the previous season, down to eighth this season. Got to be seen as a failure season, apart from the upcoming FA Cup final, in which I see them getting humiliated and embarrassed and beaten by Man City.
Even if they miraculously won the cup with Erik ten Hag, he will get rewarded in the same way as Jose Mourino (EFL Cup, UEFA Europa League Carabao Cup, FA and UEFA Super Cup runner-up) and Aloysius Paulis Maria “Louis” Van Gaal did, with his P45 having been engraved long before Man U had time for their name on the FA Cup, they usually do!
Getting back to Newcastle United and an outstanding season’s achievement, my “Don’t shoot the messenger” article on The Mag from April 9th and my mate the prophet.
A monumental achievement by Eddie Howe and the staff, the players and NUFC as a whole.
With a catalogue of mostly long term injuries which would buckle any team to have on more than one occasion, a full 11 first team selection of players injured along with a lengthy ban and the extra demands of the Champions League competition.
My mate the prophet proclaimed something along the lines of it would be a greater achievement for Newcastle United to qualify for European football this season, with all that has gone on, compared to what NUFC achieved last season. I think he’s on the money!
2022/23 season: P38 W19 D14 L5 GF68 GA33 (GD +35) 71 points (1.86 per game avg)
2023/24 season: P38 W18 D6 L14 GF85 GA62(+23) 60 points (1.57 per game avg)
With 11 points less this time, which if we had accumulated once more, would have seen us finish in fourth place again. Aston Villa were 61 points (7th) and 68 points (4th) respectively.
In my opinion, believe it or not, only Everton get anywhere near the Newcastle United achievements this season, albeit down near the bottom of the league:
Compared to the 2022/23 season, they won 5 more games, drew 3 less, lost 2 less, scored 6 more goals and conceded 6 less, with 36 points for 2022/23 and 40 points for the 2023/24 season. If not having eight points deducted, they would have finished level on points with eleventh place Brighton.
I think financial and ownership troubles will once again loom over the Toffees’ heads and they will be in the soft and sticky stuff once again, as will a few others…
Just the 86 days or so to go before we are doing this all again.
