How Newcastle can sneak a Europa Conference League spot on Sunday
Newcastle United's hopes of playing European football are dead ... or are they? There is still a way the Magpies could qualify for the Europa Conference League.
Those hopes could be dashed tonight when Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur meet at Stamford Bridge, but until then, there's something to cling to.
Realistically, Newcastle are playing for pride on Sunday when they travel to Craven Cottage to take on Fulham, but while there's still that glimmer of European hope, it does give us something to play for.
Football finance expert Stefan Borson recently claimed that Newcastle would be no better off if they did qualify for the Europa Conference League; in fact, he even suggested that the club would be worse off if they did sneak into the competition.
How Newcastle can get into Europe
So, what would need to happen for Newcastle to beat the odds? The short answer is, a lot. But here's exactly what needs to happen between now and full-time on Sunday:
- Chelsea must not beat Spurs tonight
- Chelsea and Sunderland must draw on Sunday
- Newcastle have to overturn a three-goal swing on Brentford (who play Liverpool away)
- Newcastle must beat Fulham
If Chelsea fail to beat Spurs tonight, then draws with Sunderland, then Newcastle, and Liverpool both win 1-0 on Sunday, that's going to be very painful. Missing out on Europe by one goal!
Better in Europe or out?
We definitely see where he's coming from. In terms of finances, what you earn, even from winning that competition, is negligible, and the fact that we'd have to comply with UEFA's more stringent Squad Cost Ratio levels makes this summer window more difficult to navigate.
However, our aim is to get back into Europe next season, so we're best off complying with UEFA's 70% level anyway as a matter of practice.
Where it will make a difference is the number of extra games. Newcastle have demonstrated in their last two Champions League campaigns that they simply do not have the squad to remain competitive domestically when there's Europe to contend with.
Newcastle can't get all the players they need to flesh out the squad in one window, so a season without Europe while we rebuild may not be a bad thing.
