Alan Shearer has declared that it will take a ‘miracle’ for Newcastle to achieve Champions League this season – despite us being just four points from fourth with two games in hand.
The Toon legend was actually very complimentary about Eddie Howe and his team, describing the fact that we are still in the race for top four as a ‘remarkable achievement’.
However, our former number nine believes it will take ‘patience and understanding’ as well as a few transfer windows before the Magpies develop into a solid Champions League contender.
Shearer adds that it will only be a ‘matter of time’ before we are back to European nights at St James’ Park on a consistent basis, but doesn’t seem confident we’ll catch Spurs – currently in fourth – or find a way past a much improved Liverpool; who moved to fifth after Sunday’s 7-0 win over Man Utd.
After just one win in our last eight and our third straight defeat in all competitions on Saturday, we now have two huge games against Wolves and Nottingham Forest, giving us a big chance to get ourselves back into top four contention.
Speaking to William Hill, here’s what Shearer had to say on our top four hopes:
“I think it would be a miracle if Newcastle were to get into the top four.
“The job that Eddie Howe is doing with the squad that he has got, and when you compare it to all of the others in the top four race that he is battling against, to be in third / fourth / fifth for most of the season is a remarkable achievement.
“If they were to finish in any European place then that would be classed as a great season because looking back to where they were and where they are, it’s a huge, giant step in such a small amount of time.
“It’s going to take patience and little bit of understanding, but the more transfer windows they have and as they bring in better players, the better it will be. And that is going to happen, so it is only going to be a matter of time.”
