I hope same respect will be given to Newcastle United when we win next season’s competition | OneFootball

After me and my mate Jimmy had dissected the Usyk v Fury showdown in Riyadh, we then got cràicing on about the chances of Newcastle United down at Brentford later on in the day.

Jim was also of the mindset that qualifying for the Europa Conference League would be a hindrance for United next season.

I had more or less come down to thinking that I would just love to finish above Man Utd and would take whatever that finally brought us.

I had also noticed during the build up to the match that our sworn enemies from you know where, were also taking a big interest in the outcome of our final game.

Some folk just don’t want Newcastle United to play in Europe whatsoever, even though they scoffed at the standard of the competition that we may enter. Which I may also add is very rich coming from that shower who have no European pedigree whatsoever of their own.

Chelsea won at home against Bournemouth, as I expected, to secure 6th place in the EPL and qualify for the Europa League (as things stand pre-FA Cup final).

In an entertaining game at the Gtech Community Stadium, Newcastle United turned it on in the first half against Brentford and raced into a 3-0 lead.

The busy Bees came back at us in the second period and pulled two goals back, before Toon talisman Bruno Guimaraes finished them off with a fourth goal.

You can see that Bruno loves playing for Newcastle United and has a special relationship with the supporters.

He’ll not be leaving here anytime soon, despite the efforts of the Septics to disrupt our club and needlessly unsettle our player.

That £100m transfer trigger by the end of June that is part of Bruno’s new contract, only means anything if he suddenly showed a desire and willingness to leave, in the unlikely event that any of the rotters could stump up the money.

The Salfords beat Brighton at the Amex Stadium in what could turn out to be both Roberto De Zerbi and Erik ten Hag’s last Premier League games in charge of their respective clubs.

And so for the first time since the 1976/77 season, Newcastle United finished above Man Utd.

Forty seven years ago after the departure of Supermac to Arsenal. Micky Burns, Paul Cannell and Alan Gowling helped themselves to a combined 40 league goals to fire the Toon into the old UEFA Cup.

Manchester United won the FA Cup that season to deny Liverpool the coveted treble and grab a place in the now defunct European Cup Winners Cup.

As long as the Red Devils don’t get lucky in this year’s final against Pep Guardiola’s majestic Manchester City, Newcastle will qualify for the Europa Conference League courtesy of our 7th place finish.

Man City will be going for the double at Wembley after pipping the whingebag Arteta’s Arsenal bottle jobs to the title.

Well after the hard slog we have had this season and the poor run of league results midway through it against teams in the bottom half, I am quite happy to finally finish in 7th position.

It’s been a good effort from Eddie Howe and the boys and it’s no good looking back on where we might have been if we’d beaten Brighton and the Salfords in the final week.

Newcastle finished the season on 60 points, which in the end was eight points behind Aston Villa who grabbed a Champions League place by finishing 4th. We have also scored a boat load of goals but have let in water far too many times at the back.

Villa have done well considering they finished the season as they had started it by conceding five goals. I was glad all over when I heard that the Villans had been thrashed 5-0 off Palace at Selhurst Park.

So all in all and barring an upset, it looks like it’s the Europa Conference League for Eddie and the Hotrods and the loyal Toon Army.

New places will get to be visited and lets be honest, it’s a hell of an opportunity to end our trophy drought.

When Jose Mourinho’s Roma won the same competition a couple of years ago, it was joyously celebrated in Italy’s capital. It was Roma’s first ever piece of European silverware.

The media in the UK were all over David Moyes’ West Ham lifting last seasons ECL and rightly so.