Everton’s 4-4 draw at Old Trafford this afternoon, whilst very very entertaining to watch, means that we are now guaranteed to finish at least 6th in the table and will pick up at least a place in the Europa League next season as a result.
Being honest it’s no less than our team has deserved based on the course of the season. I was looking earlier at how much time we’ve spent in the top six this season and the answer is that all bar two weeks have been spent in at least 6th place (we dropped to 7th between December 21st and January 4th) so nobody can say we’ve fluked it.
Of course eyes are on bigger prizes right now as we currently occupy the final Champions League qualification position, but it’s nice to know that whatever happens from now on we won’t drop below 6th or miss out on Europe. I’m not saying we should pack our bags and head off on holiday right now, but the security blanket is nice to have.
In two years we’ve gone from Championship to Europe which signals a truly remarkable turnaround in the fortune of the club. I get called positive quite often, but not even I envisaged anything like this and credit should be given to everyone at the club, even Mike Ashley I guess!
The only question now is which competition we’ll be entering!
I’ve often pondered over the years when you would see the Big4 dominating and picking up whole squads of the best players, on how anyone else could begin to compete. It dawned on me a few years back when you would see the likes of Bolton signing the odd quality player from Europe and maybe Everton and Aston Villa doing the same…players who dropped under the radar of the bigger clubs. I would think what if you could go around all those clubs and bring this mis-mash of players together at one club…could they then challenge the elite?…Seems this is what the Toon are doing but getting in before the likes of the Bolton’s etc….and up to now it seems to be working and long may it continue!!!
JoeSoap(Quote)
Its all well and good bringing the ‘mis-mash’ of players together, but you still need a good manager to gel them all together.
Otherwise you end up like Liverpoo.
Beardsleys Boots(Quote)
stevep
April 23, 2012 at 08:00@214
Most sensible comment ever seen on a blog!!
JoeSoap(Quote)
BB….it’s still the case now if you look at all 19 clubs most have got a couple of good players at each club, it’s only at the top 4 where you see that vast majority of their players are top drawer. If you could take a player from each club and make a squad of 15 [leaving out the top 4] I reckon you could easily come up with a CL challenging side
JoeSoap(Quote)
20 clubs sorry keep forgetting about us!
JoeSoap(Quote)