Contenders for Newcastle United next season? These five and not Spurs or Manchester United | OneFootball

I’m on holiday over in Turkey at the moment and relishing Wednesday night’s Manchester United v Newcastle United.

A game that means a lot to us all.

As they’ve denied us so much when we’ve come close to winning something.

In my time, I have never seen Newcastle finish above Man U and never thought it would happen when Mike Ashley had simply wrecked the club, nothing us more than also-rans in the Premier League, at best.

Times have changed and continue to do so.

Newcastle United are very much on the up, while Man U have been on a steady decline for over a decade now.

As far as I’m concerned, we are a much better team than them nowadays and while I enjoy watching us beat them, they are no longer for me the biggest game of the season or the first one I’d look for when the fixtures are released.

Manchester United will always be a big club, a successful one historically, but it is only their name that’s keeping them relevant.

They’re a spent force, a busted flush.

While I wouldn’t completely dismiss their chances against Newcastle United on Wednesday night, I certainly am not nervous ahead of facing Manchester United anymore, not even at old Trafford.

This is a fixture I haven’t written off for the last five years or so , that includes the final few years we endured with Mike Ashley, where both Steve Bruce and Rafa Benitez had their time.

Man U have been in a false position for a number of years and are just getting worse gradually, year in and year out.

Would I love it, should we win at old Trafford? Absolutely! It’s a ground I’ve seen plenty of hidings suffered.

Would I love it if Newcastle United finish higher than Manchester United? Yes, of course I would. It has never happened in my lifetime and hasn’t since the mid-70s.

Do I think it would be an achievement though? No, not really.

As an example, finishing above Liverpool last season was much bigger than finishing above this Man U team.

Man U, as far as I’m concerned, are lucky to be in the top ten, let alone still be in contention for Europe.

In any case, I’m looking forward to the game on Wednesday night and hopefully we can do the double over them and secure Europa conference football as a minimum (unless finishing behind Chelsea AND Man U fluking the  FA Cup).

There’s bigger fish for us to fry than Manchester United next season.

Right now, for Newcastle United I’d be looking at Liverpool, Man City, Arsenal, Aston Villa and Chelsea as contenders above Manchester United and Tottenham to be perfectly honest with you.