Back in 2012, during the midst of his long-standing tenure as manager of Arsenal, Arsene Wenger notably said “The first trophy is to finish in the top four.”
Likening qualifying for the Champions League as akin to a trophy win itself, Wenger may have been ridiculed at the time for this way of thinking, but for Newcastle this season, it really might be reality.
Former Arsenal midfielder and pundit Alan Smith has now weighed in on just how important it is for us to qualify for Europe’s premiere club competition.
Speaking on Sky Sports earlier today, Smith commented how important the achievement of winning the Carabao Cup actually was to us and our history.
“Yeah I don’t think you can underestimate that Carabao Cup, because you know 75 years or whatever it was, it’s huge, so people won’t talk about that as much now.”
“You can’t dismiss that, nobody’s trying to, and if they don’t qualify for the Champions League, they’ll probably be in a position to have a go and do it next year.”
However, Smith later emphasises that from a financial and club cultural standpoint, then Champions League isn’t just a want for us, but a must.
“It’s kind of dining at the top table as we say: the money, the revenue you’re bringing in, the quality of player obviously that you can recruit, and keeping your top players as well!”
“The likes of Alexander Isak, and Guimaraes the captain, they want to be playing in the Champions League, so they’ll be feeling a lot more settled next season if they are in that competition.”
Nobody can take away that the Carabao Cup final win over Liverpool, and the added bonus of guaranteeing UEFA Conference League football for next season is icing on top of the cake that no one can be disappointed about.
But Smith is ultimately right when he says that the prospect of undeniably establishing ourselves as one of the Premier League and European elite is a necessity for the fans, the players, and the club executives.
And perhaps the only way to achieve that, besides winning the league, is by qualifying for the Champions League as quickly and often as we can.
No Newcastle fan can truly be disappointed with the achievements and progress made this season, but potentially missing out on Champions League football will go down as a monumental mishap.
You can check out the full video from Sky Sports here:
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