Europe - Guaranteed!

Dust off your passports boys and girls, it's now official - Newcastle United are back in Europe!

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!