Newcastle United actually ranked 14th – Just behind Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and Inter Milan | OneFootball

After a sixteen year absence, Newcastle United’s astounding third place finish in the 1993/94 campaign marked a welcome return to European football at St James’ Park.

Over the next thirteen years, United competed in all of the European competitions, securing berths in the Champions League (twice), the UEFA Cup, the Intertoto Cup and curiously, considering we lost two FA Cup Finals during this period, also the European Cup Winners Cup.

The away goals defeat against Dutch side AZ Alkmaar in March 2007 was a watershed moment in Newcastle United’s pursuit of glory on the European stage, it being the last time United played a European tie until a surprise return to the UEFA Cup in 2012.

Of course, Mike Ashley owned Newcastle United from May 2007 until October 2021, a thoroughly miserable time for the vast majority of Newcastle United supporters.

At the beginning of Ashley’s tenure, Newcastle United’s UEFA coefficient was more than respectable.

All those years of European qualification, in which we’d competed against and beaten sides with great European pedigree (Barcelona, Juventus and Feyenoord spring to mind), had stood United in really good stead. At that time, we were actually ranked 14th, sitting just behind European heavyweights such as Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and Inter Milan (Newcastle fans inside the San Siro 11 March 2003 – see image at the top) in the coefficient standings.

The UEFA coefficient is something that is based upon the performance of clubs in European competitions across a rolling five year period.

Although the 2012/13 campaign saw United progress to the quarter finals of the UEFA Cup, by the time Mike Ashley sold up, with only that solitary season in European Competition (and not forgetting two painful relegations to the EFL) his ownership had completely wrecked United’s UEFA coefficient.

Even though Eddie Howe and the new owners have now guided us to the Champions League for the second time in less than four years, because of the damage that Mike Ashley inflicted, Newcastle United’s coefficient is so bad we have to instead place reliance on the coefficient of our National Association, a safety net that UEFA provide for clubs that haven’t competed in Europe for a while, or to the extent they have, have less points than 20% of their country’s coefficient.

I appreciate talk of of the C word might sound boring and is probably a topic for the wonks to get excited about, but we shouldn’t lose sight of what it means to be languishing behind the likes of Brighton and Hove Albion from these shores, or the likes of that crack Bulgarian outfit we’re all so familiar with, PFC Ludogorets Razgrad. This is after all, why we found ourselves in the so called group of death during the 2022/23 Champions League campaign.

The format of Europe’s elite competition has of course changed since our last foray saw us pitted against Paris, Milan and Dortmund, but the UEFA coefficient still determines who plays who and with ours being so poor, Newcastle United can once again expect tough opponents when the draw is made on 28 August.

This is yet another reminder of the untold damage that Mike Ashley inflicted on our club and whilst some might wish to forget all about his reign, I’m afraid his legacy and it’s consequences are still very much alive and kicking.

It’s for that reason we shouldn’t tire of reminding ourselves of the parasitic nature of his time at the helm and any talk of how his financial benevolence saved us from the same fate that the likes of Leeds United suffered, should be called out for the nonsense that it represents.

Newcastle United are once again rubbing shoulders with the elite of European football, so if you get your kicks from the ignominy that relegation brings, together with once in a generation trips to the likes of Makhachkala and Kharkiv, instead of Paris, Milan and Dortmund, then you need to give your head a serious shake.