Newcastle currently sit in 4th place in the table, three points ahead of 5th place Tottenham Hotspur and three points behind 3rd placed Arsenal.
With a trip to relegation threatened Wigan tomorrow on the agenda, Pardew and Co will be looking at gaining another three points ahead of a tough run of fixtures that will see them play Chelsea, Manchester City and Everton.
However three points at the DW Stadium tomorrow, where the away side will be cheered on by 4,500 Newcastle fans, will ensure that we keep our Champions League destiny in our own hands and will edge us a bit closer towards finishing in 4th – a place that Mike Ashley is determined that his players push for.
“Mike Ashley is determined for us to push for the Champions League so we are obviously going to go for that. He’s been very good to us. He’s been very supportive, and we’ll try to do that for him,” Pardew said in his pre-match press conference.
Of course there is still a possibility that 4th place may not be enough for Champions League football although that depends on how Chelsea do in the Champions League final against Bayern Munich. If they win it and finish outside of the top four then 4th place will only be good enough for the Europa League. What does Alan Pardew make of that though?
“That’s the rules. So we will get on with it,” he concluded.
It would be unfortunate if we did finish 4th and such a situation occurred, but then it would be pointless getting angry or bitter about it because, as Pardew says, the rules are the rules.
To me it’s a good thing that Mike Ashley wants us to pursue Champions League football. Maybe he isn’t just happy with us sitting in mid-table like some have suggested?
There have been stories regarding Mike Ashley returning to drink in the pubs and clubs in Newcastle recently so maybe he is getting a buzz out of this season? Surely an owner on board and wanting a successful NUFC is a good thing, and if he feels that he can enjoy himself once more perhaps we could see the benefit of it?
I will only start believing that we can qualify for champs league if we beat wigan….. thats why I am not confident 😕
Liam Southern Toon(Quote)
Personally I think nothing should have been said. It’s now obvious pressure and it’s come from the owner now 🙁
It can’t have been the target from the start of the season, so he should have let them get on with it and whatever happens happens.
EvilFranky(Quote)
goes without saying who wouldnt want CL?
icedog(Quote)
LST ime with you imo wigan is the hardest of the 4 games left
icedog(Quote)
I liked the fact that it was never mentioned in public, but as they’re professional footballers they should be able to handle pressurised situations. If they can’t, then get rid…hwtl…I think there’s more to happen in the league yet, I think Aston Villa and Stoke could do us a favour and take some points from both Spurs and Arsenal as could WBA.
Paul(Quote)
I picked out Wigan as a hard game weeks ago before it got to such a stage whereby they are in a tight relegation battle and we are in a tight CL battle; now it’s even harder. But we should be confident, we have won 6 in a row and I didn’t think we could win at Swansea but we did. They are a good team and like whisky nose said they are more of a mid-table quality team than bottom. That said IMO they have had their time in the prem and are punching above their weight as a club (but if they can win games at the end to stay up every season then they deserve to). Hopefully not this time, HTL lets be the team that puts the second nail in their coffin after Fulham, I’m sick of them scraping up every season.
DJG(Quote)
Actually just look at their fixtures and they have Blackburn and then Wolves at home on the last day so I think they will stay up and relegate Blackburn and Bolton. How do they manage to do this every time for what is it 5 seasons now? They beat Man U and Arsenal for gods sake. 🙁 I wish Duff and Owen had half the guts of this lot instead of a heart like a pea.
DJG(Quote)
It’s gonna definately be a battle this game, more like all out warfare and nowt like the Stoke game where they had one eye on their summer holidays. It could be like a derby atmosphere this game. They take staying up at the end very seriously. 🙂 We might have to defend for our lives and nick it with the odd extra bit of quality. The problem for us is that 3 points are essential or we can forget about CL IMO looking at the last 3 games. After the first 2 games I think we will either be out of it or have it pretty much in the bag (if Spurs keep losing and we see off Chelski)
DJG(Quote)
Only thing we can do is try and win all remaining games, if we get 10 points I think we’ll sneak 3rd
Shame our GD is the worst of the 4 teams vying for CL
stevep(Quote)
Our gd has been slowly creeping up though, wasn’t that long ago it was 0. A 4-0 win tomorrow and it would be +15.
DJG(Quote)
Be strange if he didn’t want us in wouldn’t it…
Stuart79(Quote)
I am a little worried that the Wigan fans are going to be at the ground early tomorrow and scare our players with noise when they get off the coach. There is no limit to the noise ten men and a drum can make.
Toby le Rhone(Quote)
Indeed Stuart, yet some people were suggesting not so long back that all he wants is for us to scrape by in the Premier League, happy with survival etc etc
toonsy(Quote)
TLR – 😆 😆 😆
toonsy(Quote)
I think out of the last 4 games we will get 8 points , cant see spurs winning all their last 4 games so that will leave us 4th. But tomorrow will be a tough game for sure.
Johno Toon(Quote)
Toonsy for me the biggest problem with our plan (apart from people being willing to part with the money) is that they’ll want to be able to identify where it’s used. Money won’t be spent on players every window, nor should it be if there’s no one that would improve the team. Money is needed or the academy etc as well but fans will demand an extra £10m player every year and ignore wages costs, signing bonus et al. Then there’ll also be those that give out saying that the money that was spent should’ve been spent by MA anyway and accuse him of pocketing the 10m.
I appreciate what your trying to do in coming up with an alternative solution, just playing devils advocate 😉
Dubtoon(Quote)
Read the other day that City got 21.6 million for exiting at the group stage. I can see why Ashley fancies some of that
Toby le Rhone(Quote)
If Ashley wants Champions League football, he knows what it takes.
Thats right “Dosh” !
chuck(Quote)
Mike Ashley has just made approx £25m in one day on the stock market. Maybe he’s planning on releasing a bit of that to NUFC should we finish top 4? 😉
Shamrock(Quote)