The Europeometer™ (2023/24) - permutations in O.P.

[The Prophet]

As ever it depends on injuries, cup runs, etc, but for me a good season would be qualifying for some form of European football again.

[r0cafella]

2 minutes ago, Rich said:

What are we settling on then for this season's target, then? Top six? Just had a quick scan and it seems the bookies have us finishing 6th.

Top 6 aye, think it will be tough though. 

[Hanshithispantz]

I think a couple of teams will falter as it happens almost every year. It does seem a hard season though. The top 10 could be very strong.

 

It would be great if Man City are sussed.

 

 

Edited July 31, 2023 by Hanshithispantz

[Paully]

9 hours ago, Jaqen said:

I don't think it comes down to our owners ambition or what they want. The FFP situation just makes it really tricky. Ignoring Brighton and Villa for now we are competing against 6 clubs who can outspend us in terms of fees and wages for players. 

 

Last season we overachieved and pushed our squad to its absolute limit. You can't just bring in a couple of extra players and expect to 'progress' against the sides above and around you when they are improving their squads even further. 

 

It could end up being an even bigger challenge to finish top 6 this season than it was top 4 last. So I hope the majority of fans aren't daft enough to use last season as a yardstick of what constitutes a good season this year. 

 

 

 

 

Absolutely spot on! 

[TRon]

49 minutes ago, Rich said:

What are we settling on then for this season's target, then? Top six? Just had a quick scan and it seems the bookies have us finishing 6th.

 

That's basically been my prediction for a while now. Not because we haven't improved, it's based more on Liverpool and Chelsea spending much more than us, and landing some quality signings, especially Liverpool. 6th would be a creditable position considering the extra games, many might even think 7-8th would be more realistic, but I think we'll still have a good campaign because we are so well run now.

[The College Dropout]

1 hour ago, Rich said:

What are we settling on then for this season's target, then? Top six? Just had a quick scan and it seems the bookies have us finishing 6th.

Aye. I’d take 7th too. 
 

I think people are a little quick to discount Spurs. A good manager, keep Kane, get Son, Maddison and Kulu performing with no European football. That’s a top 6 team.  
 

Even if they sold Kane. An attack of Richarlison, Son, Kulu and Maddison should finish top 6 without European football.  
 

But splitting the old top 6 again + Europe would be a good season. 
 

4th is another miracle imo. Above target.  
5th absolutely tremendous. Above target. 
6th excellent. Just above target.  
7th good. On target.  
8th with a good CL run is still arguably par.  Only criticism is that it would mean a Villa or someone finished above us. But they haven’t had to play CL football. 
9th I would be disappointed. bur I can see how that happens. 
 

10th or worse and Eddie’s job May be on the line. Unfortunately.  

 

 

Edited July 31, 2023 by The College Dropout

[Andy84]

Pre season predictions are hard but I think there is still that “team x will have improved massively” which must instantly mean they will finish way above us.  I think we will improve as well, by quite a bit.  I’d be disappointed with 7th 

[Turnbull2000]

We basically need to double our commercial income again to be a permanent top 6 challenger? Could do with some juiced up sponsorships in the next couple of years, yet somehow avoid getting blocked on fair value.

[KingArthur]

8 minutes ago, The College Dropout said:

Aye. I’d take 7th too. 
 

I think people are a little quick to discount Spurs. A good manager, keep Kane, get Son, Maddison and Kulu performing with no European football. That’s a top 6 team.  
 

Even if they sold Kane. An attack of Richarlison, Son, Kulu and Maddison should finish top 6 without European football.  
 

 

 

They have decent attack anyway, it is the defence that seems to be the weak link for Spurs. Need 1-2 reinforcements there.

[Jinky]

8 minutes ago, The College Dropout said:

Aye. I’d take 7th too. 
 

I think people are a little quick to discount Spurs. A good manager, keep Kane, get Son, Maddison and Kulu performing with no European football. That’s a top 6 team.  
 

Even if they sold Kane. An attack of Richarlison, Son, Kulu and Maddison should finish top 6 without European football.  
 

But splitting the old top 6 again + Europe would be a good season. 
 

4th is another miracle imo. Above target.  
5th absolutely tremendous. Above target. 
6th excellent. Just above target.  
7th good. On target.  
8th with a good CL run is still arguably par.  Only criticism is that it would mean a Villa or someone finished above us. But they haven’t had to play CL football. 
9th I would be disappointed. bur I can see how that happens. 
 

10th or worse and Eddie’s job May be on the line. Unfortunately.  

 

 

 

 

Good call, but I'd take 10th and a Cup win!

[The Butcher]

Anything below 7th would be poor imo.

[Abacus]

The other thing that we don't know is who we bring in.

 

Howe has already said he hopes there will be more to come in the transfer window so, like everyone else, I'm excited to see how many and what level they are at.

 

I think that actually makes us more of a wildcard than most of the rest. A couple of quality signings make far more of a difference to our squad than they do to, say, Man City's.

 

I think the current squad would be disappointed with below 7th. Add two or even three quality players and it's a whole different bag of mackerel in terms of expectations.

[SiLvOR]

My hope for this season would be:

 

Top 6

Good cup runs in all 3 competitions (asking a lot, but hey).

And this last one is potentially really smalltime/petty, but my god, I am desperate for us to beat those whinging cunts at Anfield this year.

[Cf]

Does feel it's going to be more competitive in the top half this year. 

 

One thing that means though is it might require less points than usual to achieve certain spots. All the teams can't win all the games. If the league is stronger that could pull City into the fold a little too but I still expect it's their title to lose. 

 

Top 6 and a decent showing of ourselves in the CL I think should be the target. Would represent an excellent season with anything else on top being gravy. 

 

Top 8 I think would be accepted if there was a good CL run and we were in that spot because of luck, injuries, etc rather than poor performance. 

 

Squad is starting to improve but it's still in transition. We are adding quality to many areas of the pitch but still quite a bit of deadwood to shift and lack of quality backup. 4 competitions is not going to be easy for us. 

[The College Dropout]

11 minutes ago, The Butcher said:

Anything below 7th would be poor imo.

You think some bad luck with injuries, good CL run, we are simply too good to finish below Villa,  Chelsea and Spurs?

[Dr Venkman]

Anyone who thinks EH will be aiming for anything less than CL qualification hasn’t been paying attention, IMO.

[The College Dropout]

I’m assuming we’ll sign Tino and another defender.   
 

I stil think we’d be be 2 quality outfield players away from outright being better than the likes of Spurs. 
 

@Cf the better the best teams. The more points will be required.   There was a season some to go ago the top 6 has their own league and Man U finished 6th on 69 points. Arsenal 5th on 75 points.    Everton back in 7th with 61 points. Massive drop off from there.  The good teams slayed the league. This year we’ll have like 9 bad teams. Possibly 8/9 great ones. 

[Gallowgate Toon]

Outside of City and maybe Arsenal, there are some pretty significant weaknesses in every other squad at present. 

[Andy84]

3 minutes ago, The College Dropout said:

I’m assuming we’ll sign Tino and another defender.   
 

I stil think we’d be be 2 quality outfield players away from outright being better than the likes of Spurs. 
 

@Cf the better the best teams. The more points will be required.   There was a season some to go ago the top 6 has their own league and Man U finished 6th on 69 points. Arsenal 5th on 75 points.    Everton back in 7th with 61 points. Massive drop off from there.  The good teams slayed the league. This year we’ll have like 9 bad teams. Possibly 8/9 great ones. 

we’re a better side than spurs imo

[Barnes23]

The club will be aiming for progress, that can be measured in different ways but they certainly won't be happy to drop out of the CL now that we're in. There was a direct (unattributed) quote in an Athletic article several months from one of the higher-ups along the lines of "once we get into the champions league the point Is to stay there". 

 

With that in mind, I'm not sure why we as a fanbase should be entering the season thinking differently. There are a lot of variables and factors at play which could mean that a lower finish is acceptable, many of them outside of our control, it's true that this season will be more difficult. But I don't see the need to downplay our quality before a ball has been kicked, the kind of tempering of expectations that feels ingrained as a Newcastle fan because of our history of underachievement and especially our recent history under Ashley. It's a mindset that we can do without imo

[Yorkie]

31 minutes ago, The Butcher said:

Anything below 7th would be poor imo.

 

Depends how we do in the cups imo. If we go deep in all three cup competitions I don't think anyone should be getting hammered if our league form falters.

 

I wouldn't want us to be like Spurs, Chelsea et al, where the concept of a slow build is jettisoned along with the manager, in a hunt for immediate success. 

[Cf]

12 minutes ago, The College Dropout said:

I’m assuming we’ll sign Tino and another defender.   
 

I stil think we’d be be 2 quality outfield players away from outright being better than the likes of Spurs. 
 

@Cf the better the best teams. The more points will be required.   There was a season some to go ago the top 6 has their own league and Man U finished 6th on 69 points. Arsenal 5th on 75 points.    Everton back in 7th with 61 points. Massive drop off from there.  The good teams slayed the league. This year we’ll have like 9 bad teams. Possibly 8/9 great ones. 

 

I guess what I'm saying is if it's more like 8/9 great teams you mention at the bottom it potentially could be a more gradual increase to the top rather than being its own mini league. 

 

We'll see I guess

[Rich]

31 minutes ago, SiLvOR said:

My hope for this season would be:

 

Top 6

Good cup runs in all 3 competitions (asking a lot, but hey).

And this last one is potentially really smalltime/petty, but my god, I am desperate for us to beat those whinging cunts at Anfield this year.

 

I'd take this, like. 100%.

[The Prophet]

In terms of the expectation of the club, it seems pretty widely accepted that last season went beyond what anyone realistically thought was achievable. 

 

So while the aim is incremental improvement, dropping out of the top four won't be seen as a failure. 

[TRon]

30 minutes ago, Barnes23 said:

The club will be aiming for progress, that can be measured in different ways but they certainly won't be happy to drop out of the CL now that we're in. There was a direct (unattributed) quote in an Athletic article several months from one of the higher-ups along the lines of "once we get into the champions league the point Is to stay there". 

 

With that in mind, I'm not sure why we as a fanbase should be entering the season thinking differently. There are a lot of variables and factors at play which could mean that a lower finish is acceptable, many of them outside of our control, it's true that this season will be more difficult. But I don't see the need to downplay our quality before a ball has been kicked, the kind of tempering of expectations that feels ingrained as a Newcastle fan because of our history of underachievement and especially our recent history under Ashley. It's a mindset that we can do without imo

 

That's what you would expect from these owners, but there's not much they can do if we are restricted to a far smaller budget than our CL rivals, at least the established superpowers. They can still outbid us for the very best players, and without those it takes some pretty special coaching to make up the gap.