What are Ashley's Euro plans?
As it stands at the moment we are still unsure as to which competition we will qualify for let alone where we qualify from, although I believe we would only have to go through one qualifying stage for either Champions League or Europa League group qualification at least.
Ideally the club would rather know in advance that qualification was assured before spending on players and I would hope to see business conducted earlier in the summer rather than trying to bring in players after qualification. I’m not expecting massive expenditure, even if we were to make the Champions League group as I think the board would take the view that the windfall may be used towards wages of new players not just transfer fees. For example, if we earn an extra £30 million that one season, spending that on players may lumber us with another £30-60 million on wages over next 4-5 years.
I feel that with a few additions we should be able to cope with the extra games but we may lose a few points over the course of the season, we may find ourselves in a position where playing in the Europa League may condemn us to play in the Europa League again rather than kick on and reach Champions League.
Even the top teams seem to often drop off a bit after midweek European games, but I feel that sometimes it is used as more of an excuse more than anything. I’ve seen people say that Stoke are struggling as they have European games but they were middle of the table last year (finished 13th), they qualified as runners up in the FA Cup, and a decimated Birmingham City have still got themselves into the Championship play-offs, and that is with more league games aswell – so overall I feel there is no reason why it should automatically have a negative impact.
The second big question is, do we try and win a cup next year or use it as a chance to develop the youngsters? Personally I feel the right approach would be a balance between the two, rotate the team bit by playing two or three younger players a game in the cups and then maybe the strongest team should we progress onwards. We then have the chance to flick back to the first question to help ease the burden in the league aswell.
In regards to recruitment, I don’t see it making a big difference in terms of players targeted as it may be seen as a one off, but it may be easier to keep squad players happy, with perhaps a few players coming in to challenge in the first team and, by the sounds of it anyway, a few more youngsters to join our ranks and challenge in the future. I feel that would happen regardless of European football so maybe we’d see an extra player here or there or perhaps push a bit more for top targets.
Anyway that’s my opinion on the matter. It’ll be a while yet before we see how things pan out but here’s hoping it’s onwards and upwards!
Thanks to Alanthedog363for sending this in.
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79 Comments
Being optimistic we could still finish 3rd and go straight into the group stages. On the other hand if we finish 6th we will have to play 2 qualifying rounds in the Europa Cup.
One problem I see is, assuming say we qualify for the CL but have to play a qualifying round, is how much do we invest in new players. If we got knocked out straightaway then that’s it – no more european football for the season and no extra cash. A similar situation arises in the Europa League. Will MA be prepared to gamble on us getting through to the group stages by investing significantly in new players? It wouldn’t be a good idea to wait and see what happens as he will then be faced with ‘close to deadline day’ signings at inflated prices (which he won’t pay anyway).
Who thought we’d be talking like this at the beginning of the season – not me.
I think that the club has developed so quickly over the last 3 seasons that we may need to get CL to continue that progression. It would give us a better summer, where Ashley has the extra income and sponsorship opportunities he wants and the chance to make his brand more ‘global’. The players might otherwise have their heads turned by bigger clubs, whereas they are now more likely to stay and targets are more likely to come. Thats not to be disrespectful to the Europa but it doesn’t have anywhere near the same impact.
MAL
I think we could get through the qualifying stage, yes after that there will be better teams than us in the group stage.
DJG just like there are better teams than chelsea in the champs leauge
Batty, precisely, they are called R Madrid and B Munich.
Us being or not being in the CL next season will not make a difference to our player recruitment plans.. We are not suddenly going to buy a shit load of players.. Thee is no chance of it happening.. If we lose no first teamers we will be lucky to see 2 or 3 players come in. Ashley may get his brand out there but it won’t open his cheque book any wider..
I’m more concerned about losing Tiote , Ba and Cisse to Acon than having more games in Europe.
They could be missing for two weeks in October and then six weeks in Jan/Feb.
Even if we sell nobody I think Ashley will provide a £20m budget for Summer signings.
That could buy a RB – Van Der Wiel
CD – Yanga-Mbiwa
ST – Assaidi
Our league position next season is very obviously going to be determined by the the strength in depth of the squad we have.
AMF i agree mate,but still think one will go to pay for any incomeing players
by the way enjoyed reading the thread cheers
DJG i dis agree better teams have been knocked out
Tonight should be a game and a half. Mourinho wins and he has a final where he can trounce his old employer at Chelski. Bayern win and they have a home final. All to play for.
imo marv comeing back will be like a new signing,wonder if pardew would switch benny to the right more,i would still allow him to roam maybe a bit more
Sidekick I agree, the ACoN will take away ba and Cisse and in effect leave us toothless. We need two defenders (or Pieters) and a striker to replace Lovenkrands leaving who is better than Best (Ameobi doesnt even play 90mins anymore). That is what we NEED IMO. More midfielders ect are a bonus. We have Marveux and Obertan anyway once back from injury.
Hey Ice, its not my thread mate
cheers anyway 
Redknapp on sky sports ‘we are still sitting fourth place’…check again you wanker.
The key here is quality in depth as I think you can only have 25 players in your squad for the forth-coming season. It will be a lot easier to keep the whole squad happy due to the fact the you really need two teams when you are competing in europe. I think three good quality signings will do the trick as this will still leave a little room for our young guns to break through and players like James Perch the chance to improve further. Swamping the team with signings is the wrong way to go we need to build steadily to keep the spirit of the club alive from top to bottom.
Mal – I think we would end up playing in the Europa League if we were beaten in the play-off round of the Champions League. According to the information on here, we would enter the group stage of the Europa League instead:
http://kassiesa.home.xs4all.nl/bert/uefa/
The relevant paragraph is:
“Losing teams of the 3rd qualifying round enter the 4th qualifying round of the Europa League, while losing teams of the 4th qualifying round enter the group stage of the Europa League, and third-placed teams from the group stage enter the round of 32 in the Europa League.”
Hitman- I take it old floppy chops ain’t your cup of tea…
hes a twat carter.
the fa should of dragged his arse over the coals for telling everyone about bas clause.
the sooner he fks off to manage southern united the better
On the money Hitman, he needs his floppy chops slapping.
Might need to learn the French National Anthem for the Euro’s I think?
Why would they drag ol’ diamond geezer ‘Arry over the coals? They probably wine and dine in each others houses and play golf together.
talking money i see that git whelan has said there is some extra tickets for the game with toon if we want them £125 each WTF,there should be sumit done about that
Icedog, put your rod back in the box till next time
DJG kna its true,i never fish mate,i leave that to others
http://www.newcastleunited-mad.co.uk/news/tmnw/wigan_disgrace__toon_tickets_for_125_741529/index.shtml
ICE@21-Whelan hates Ash and sees us as a cash cow ,hence the £125 tickets. I hate Wigan ,it’s a bloody rugby area not football and they need to do one .I hope we really turn em over ,if only to show the likes of Arsenal how it’s done.
On the subject of Europa league affecting form ,I always thought it was the summer start in the old intertoto cup that affected PL clubs form in the past. I know it ceased in 2008 and i think clubs that would of qualified for it enter the Europa league at qualifying stages now or something like that .Perhaps someone on the blog understands that one better . As long as we strengthen I think we will be o.k and Iwould agree with Carter that 3 should do it ,in the right positions.
Also I would be ecstatic to see Villa drop out the PL, karma and all that like.
KIMTOON aye as long as one of the three is a striker
Ice -Agree. I said on previous blog that a defender who can play cb and rb and one who can play cb and lb (so we have good cover) plus a really good striker to cover Acon ,injuries and rotation is a must PLUS no top players sold .
Been having a crack at me Mackem ‘mate’ at work, as you do, and am I right in thinking that a 40 year Mackem has seen their team relegated more times than they’ve seen them beat the Toon?
I said that to him and was promptly accused of ‘not having a fookin clue what your on abowit yeeou thick jawdee tramp!’
Oh, how I larfed.
Skip…to be fair if you have a mackem mate you “haven’t got a fookin clue”
Acon…..
class
RICHIE
I’m sick of all this “Europe” talk…. its become tiresome…
Any mobile phone gurus out there? I’m looking to get an early upgrade from 02, anyone reckon they’ll play ball if I play the “I’ve been with you a decade” card?
toonsy just tell them you will leave for another network
HITMAN aye your reet,mate of mine said he was leaveing ended up with much better deal
TOONSY remember a shy man gets nowt
from last thread aye any one does mate
aye ice it was on the gadget show a last year.
HITMAN it was on that really channel y/day,they got 6 people to try on diff networks all got better deal all they did was got put through to cust serv
Villa are going down chaps its a cert. The club is in a right old mess, funny how things turn round.
Has anyone read this about Sports Direct
18Million Shares to Ashley Profits UP.
Not bad in a recession. This fella knas his business for sure.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17836617
whoops 8 not 18
Toonsy – my iPhone was stolen 12 days before I was due an upgrade to iphone 4 from O2 for £100. I begged them to give me the upgrade, even offered to pay both contracts for the overlapping month, but there is no way they would upgrade me and wanted to charge me £500 for iPhone 4. They told me that if I’d been spending over £50/month on my contract, they could upgrade me a few days early, but as I was only on £35/month…..
To me that says that O2 only value customers who spend over £50/month, whilst the small fry like me get told to get lost. So I switched to Orange and got iPhone 4 for £69
And now I take every opportunity to tell anyone who will listen what a sh1t company O2 are and how little they value their customers
Let us know how you get on though!
Carter – I hope so, after the way they tret us when we got relegated.
Disgusting fans celebrating the demise of another club.
Plus heard on talk shyte today that Randy Lerner is rapidly losing interest in Aston Vile too.
They could be the next Pompey.
Ha ha ha ha ha ha aha.
Kunts. Reap wot ya sow n al that.
Any idea how much Sir John earned when he floated the toon
Too many Chelsea supporters in this office….. sigh.
http://p.twimg.com/ArSEj6wCQAAaixC.jpg:large
The fact is that we are where we are now without spending big!
If we do make CL we definately should not change our way of think regarding recruitment because quite simply, spending a fortune on players does not guarantee you success.
As usual, rumours have been thrown around in the media of which players we are looking at and which players we are likely to sell and it’s human nature to buy into it. But we have to remember that that is all it is – stories to sell papers.
I think this board have made it clear that they dont mind upsetting the fans with decisions and statements they make. The likes of the Scum have already said that they will have to sell to buy any new players, and I really don’t think that our board would have a problem make a similar statement – if that were the case. Let’s not forget that Pardew was fairly honest about how much he was given in Jan for a new CB
I would think that Sidekicks sum of £20m would be a fairly accurate ball park figure, maybe slight more depending on money generated by the sale of players. But we certainly won’t be spending the kind of money the likes of Liverpool, Chelsea or City do … and I’m pleased about that. I love that NUFC are unearthing the likes of Tiote, Cabaye and Cisse. That should remain our focus, improving our squad with quality professional minded players from lesser leagues for sensible fees.
Regarding the article, which is a valid point, I think it’s about getting a quality about our squad that would allow us to compete across all competitions. I’m of the opinion that any European football is good for the progression of our club because it raises the profile and puts us back in the limelight. Of course the limelight is that bit brighter in the CL, but having watched quite a bit of Europa this season, it certainly isn’t the tinpot tournament that some people would dismiss it as.
Whatever our European stage, spending will and should be kept in perspective and I believe our strongest 11 next season will look very similar to the 11 that turned Stoke over, but the squad will look 4-5 quality players better.
SHARPY dont turn into a wolfie mate
Nice one Hitman
Beardsleysboots- Yep will never forgive them for that. We have and only and will only do that to the Mackems, or hold on and the bin dippers, mancs, stoke, chelsea
Toonsy, they dont give any credit for loyalty.
It all comes down to how much you are spending each month
Not how much you spend.. more like how much they stand to lose if you leave em…
Ice – to much do ya think?
SHARPY only jokeing,you go for it mate
Toonsy . Susan is right , Orange are your best bet . My daughter is with them when she was due to renew her contract she got quotes from other providers told orange the cheapest one she was quoted then they bettered it, and gave her a better phone, AND included insurance cover in the monthly premium.
£50/month is the minimum for getting treated like a valued customer… otherwise according to O2 you can just fck off…..
Susan & Kimtoon both work for Orange… beware
Aussie @57- I wish ,what i would give for a 9 to 5 job
Do you do shift work Kim or are you looking for work.. I hear it is pretty tough over your way employment wise..
spot on… i am looking for 4 players minimum as alan said earlier…
1cB, 1LB/CB, 1WL/R and 1St with potential and young.
I can see LB/CB comming in sooon than later and a wing player on free transfer. and maybe a striker cheap….
then we will get in a lot more 16-19 years reserve team players to cope wit injuries n etc…
in all we should do ok n not light the world on fire…. steady progress so we stay there 4 a long time to come and keep moving upwards on on wards
Ice – nee fear there mate. To be honest, I got sidetracked half way thru and didn’t realise how much I had droned on.
I may laugh atother clubs demise, but wouldn’t go so far as to make a banner specially.
.
Anyhoo, no offence or owt, but who the hell is “alanthedog363″ as I’ve never seen a comment from him before on this blog.
I dont see investing in a few new players as a gamble, in case we fail to get thru the qualifying rounds. If that happens, then they will make all the difference next season in our push for a top 4 place again.
Aussie -I’m a full time carer 24/7 to my lad ,so I get carers allowance which is some what less than a proper job pays.
Looking after your lad is a proper job
.. its more important than any 9-5 work.. your right about the coin situation tho..
Well that didn’t work. They wanted £220 to terminate my contract early then they would happily upgrade me. Feck that. I’ll wait
Only wanted an Android phone so I could get an app called Viber which allows free calls via wi-fi, which will come in handy whilst I’m abroad rather than paying stupid money to phone home
Unless I can find some way of ridding my Windows phone of it’s shitey software and putting an Android OS on it
BB – He does comment. He has a few on the last thread (or maybe the one before that?)
So he’s still new on tho.
Well welcome along anyway Alan and thanks for the article.
Toonsy -If you had virgin cable they do a bundle of T.v ,internet ,phone and mobile at quite a good price .Obviously I don’t know if your cable or sky like.
Can’t believe they are playing hardball like that , christ we are in a double dip but people still happy to piss customers off .
Aussie @64- The money thing really annoying on so many levels . Carers allowance is £55 a week. If my son was in residential care it would cost around £3500 to £6000 per week to fund his care depending on the home
he would be in as his needs are quite big. Carers save this country an absoloute fortune. If we all gave up our roles tommorow the country would go bust within a month I reckon.
I wouldn’t recommend going to ’3′ network either Toonsy.
I’ve got my android on that and the coverage is pish poor.
I do get unlimited txts and interweb tho and only pay £25.
It does ok for me tho
Kimtoon – All Carer’s should be paid more……… they used to be called nurses before they got promoted
Carter@70
Aussie /Carter – Just had a look . 6million u.k carers save u.k £119 billion per year
Figures for May 2011.Christ even I never thought it that much.
Kimtoon- hope the don’t all put their notice in at the same time, we would be well and truely up sht kreek without a paddle.
Villas last three games.
West BromvAston Villa 15:00
Sun 6 May 2012 – Premier League Aston VillavTottenham 14:00
Sun 13 May 2012 – Premier League NorwichvAston Villa
1 point against Spurs to help us out and they can go and fck off the the championshit
Carter @74-They won’t beat Norwich or Weat brom derby or not but I can see a draw with spuds maybe even a win. How many points do they need to stay up is it 3.
kimtoon – I think they probably only need one more win to stay up due to their better goal difference. I think the may struggle to get it though as they are in turmoil.Fingers crossed we get payback.
Carter -Amen to that.
been on here a good while (used to be as irish_al, and ed’s blog prior) but keep my trap shut lot of the time, usually catch up on the articles after the good points are made and can’t be bothered to comment after all the waffling that ensues
i see you shortened the title, can’t blame you, it reminded me of the titles i had to use in physics experiments
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