Euro dreams over!

You'll likely not find a more deluded sounding title with regard to NUFC this season, but in a sense the meaning behind the title is true.

This weekend saw the end of any lingering hopes with regard to Europe and will mean that the remainder of our season will purely be focussed on us getting the results to maintain our current league position and avoid getting into any trouble at the wrong end of the table.

It looks as though fifth place will be the only league position that will gain qualification to next seasons Europa League, which is going to be a stretch too far for us in my opinion. However, the fact that we have got to March without being eliminated from the Euro race, and the fact that it has taken some freak results in the cup competitions to rule us out, is an indication of just how well we have done this season and just how open the league table is this year.

I'm getting slightly fed up of people pissing on aspirations though if I'm being honest. Yes survival was our main aim for the season, but whilst we had a chance of getting to Europe we should have been going all out to grab it. We might not be good enough to have made it, but what is the harm in trying?

I keep hearing people banging on about survival and how we are in a relegation scrap yet we are actually closer to sixth place as things stands currently. Why not look up whilst only having a tentative look down? Are Sunderland and Bolton also in a relegation scrap then? Naturally it could all change and we could get dragged into trouble, which could be said for the two teams above us aswell, but one win and it makes it all look a little bit more rosy.

I'm acutely aware that survival is the main aim for the season, but at the minute we have a chance of finishing the season in top ten at the very least. Europe is gone, if it was ever on in the first place, which means that we just have to concentrate on winning football games. We may have nothing to play for in terms of qualification, but we still have everything to play for in the league.

A higher finish will hopefully attract a better type of player than we could get if we finished just above relegation, so in the short term there is probably very little to play for, but when you look at the bigger picture a strong finish to the season could be vitally important.

Drum beating over!

Howay the lads!