Newcastle United enter next season without the allure of European football on offer to potential recruits.
While the win over Brentford on the final day of the Premier League season had Newcastle on the cusp of qualification for the Europa Conference League, Manchester United put an end to that particular dream by shocking Manchester City in the FA Cup final.
Their 2-1 victory at Wembley cast sixth-placed Chelsea into the Conference League, meaning seventh-placed Newcastle missed out on continental competition entirely.
Clearly, that is a huge disappointment.
Knocked out of the Champions League by the finest of margins in a group containing two of the eventual semi-finalists and one of the finalists in Paris Saint-Germain and Borussia Dortmund respectively, it is gutting not to be able to see Newcastle follow that up for at least another season.
The hope, of course, is that having just a domestic campaign on which to focus will help Eddie Howe climb back up the Premier League table.
Still, some insiders behind the scenes at St James’ Park don’t think an instant return to the Champions League is in the offing.
What insiders are now saying about Newcastle United and the Champions League
According to The Athletic, people behind the scenes on Tyneside are “repeatedly” stressing that Newcastle are still miles of achieving the status of being a regular top-four contender.
Though the ambition clearly is to reach that level, there is an acceptance that Newcastle are still miles off the established elite in terms of finances available, infrastructure and the like.
This will be Eddie Howe’s hardest season at Newcastle
It’s difficult to put a positive spin on Newcastle finishing seventh and going out of every cup competition reasonably early, albeit after some ridiculously difficult draws.
Equally, it’s hard to pit Newcastle as an underdog given the size of PIF’s resources, although there is a caveat to that of course in that the club cannot just go and splash money about amid FFP limitations.
Still, next season will no doubt be Howe’s hardest season at Newcastle.
There was little expectation on Newcastle reaching the top four and a domestic cup final during his first full campaign. This time around, there have been mitigating circumstances as to some of the struggles, even if the injury crisis cannot fully be blamed.
Now, there is surely an expectation that Newcastle will significantly improve on their seventh-placed finish, given they have only domestic matters to focus on.
Warnings about not being able to match other clubs in terms of money to spend and infrastructure are merited but will count for little if Newcastle don’t improve.
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