Archive for tag: Promotion prospects.

What happens if the Toon get promoted?

November 14th, 2009 | 40 Comments |

A lot depends on these two
A lot depends on these two
Newcastle United are sitting pretty at the top of the Championship right now. It’s a good reason to be optimistic perhaps but what happens if we actually get promoted?

Even the most pessimistic of Toon supporters would probably entertain ideas of us at least making a play-off spot this season. Sure, we’re only a third of the way through the season and there’s always the chance that injuries could seriously affect our small squad, but it would be a brave man who’d bet against us finishing in the top 6.

Promotion, then, is a distinct possibility.

In terms of our squad, what we have is more or less the players we had at the end last season minus nine regulars and with the addition of a couple of players on loan. Some of the nine we’ve lost won’t be missed but some people would argue that a few of our better players were amongst the leavers, such as Bassong, Beye, Martins and maybe even Duff.

Arguably then, on paper we have a weaker team than the one that got relegated last season. That’s not the full story of course because one of the reasons we were so dismal last season was because we kept changing manager every 5 minutes. This season we’ve had consistency in that area and Hughton’s managed to motivate the team. I think consistency is worth a lot in terms of results but is it enough alone that the current squad would be able to hold their own in – and avoid relegation from – the Premier League? (more…)