I’ll be amazed if Toon are in Europe in five years
NEWCASTLE’s owners want to win the Premier League — but they might have to get out of the Championship first!
They are buying a club in trouble and Mike Ashley is no fool.
He’s getting out at the right time.
I wouldn’t be getting too excited about this if I was a Newcastle fan.
They’re dreaming if they think the club is winning the league in the next five years.
They need 17 players! If this was Arsenal or Tottenham getting taken over, you’d go, “Wow, they’ve got a chance, they only need four or five”.
Not Newcastle. Who’s going to go there?
They need players for a relegation battle.
You’ve got to buy a hero. The first thing you have to do is buy a big- name centre-forward.
But in my eyes that’s the end for someone like Callum Wilson, then, and he’s one of the two best players at the club.
They’re just not buying the big, big stars. Harry Kane’s not going to Newcastle.
He’s 28.
His career will be over before they win anything.
League
They’ll go for people like James Tarkowski and Jesse Lingard.
In my opinion, players like that are not winning you the league, they’re not getting you into the Champions League.
Plus, whoever goes there will get slaughtered for chasing the money.
Win the league in five years?
Absolutely no chance. It’s impossible. If Newcastle make it into the Champions League in the next five years I’d be shocked, I’d be amazed at the highest level.
You could spend € 225m in January but who are you going to get?
Everybody has big money now.
When Chelsea and Manchester City did it, the rules were different and you could spend what you like.
You can’t do that now. With Chelsea, it took them time.
And nobody had that kind of money then and so they were just outbidding everybody.
It’s different now.
The moral side of it I don’t like either.
But I’m not afraid to say I don’t know enough about politics to get into that debate.
I’m just looking at it from a footballing perspective.
Difficult
And I don’t think these owners grasp just how difficult it is to get into the top four.
You need a miracle. Newcastle are in the bottom three.
Look at their next six games: Tottenham, Crystal Palace, Chelsea, Brighton, Brentford, Arsenal.
They might only win one.
What bigname manager is going to take that job?
Topdrawer managers like Antonio Conte will get big money wherever they go.
They have professional pride and a winning record to protect. Newcastle haven’t won for seven games.
These are the teams they’ve played — West Ham, Aston Villa, Southampton, Manchester
United, Leeds, Watford and Wolves.
Let’s be honest, only two of those are going to finish in the top eight… Newcastle are in trouble. They are in a relegation battle.
And three of their last four games are against Liverpool, Manchester
City and Arsenal.
Good luck!
TOTTENHAM boss Nuno Espirito Santo is backing
Harry Kane to rain on the big Toon parade.
Spurs travel to a sold- out St James’ Park tomorrow with the stadium rocking after completion of takeover by a Saudi Arabian investment fund.
The visitors’ boss is determined to silence the Geordie crowd and believes his striker (left) is the man to do it.
Kane (28) is yet to score in the Premier League this season after a move to Manchester City failed to materialise in the summer, though he has six in other competitions.
Tasks
“Of course after what has happened with Newcastle we expect them to have a very supportive crowd,” said Nuno.
“We just have to ignore that, focus on our tasks and quieten the fans. For that you have to use your football. We have to control the game, play good, be dominant. And that will not be easy.
“With Harry, it is normal what people have been saying and I’m sure he is used to it. But we are relaxed.
“We know there is much more than goals with Harry in terms of what he does for the team. He is a fantastic player, one of the best — and the goals will come. I don’t see anything different about Harry and it is about realising that things will happen naturally.
“We have to provide things to happen as a team and a club. We have to know that