Newcastle might make a Champions League spot with this team and so the theory goes there will be massively expanded funds and the team will progress. This was also our dream.
Except that might not be that case, according to newly appointed Manager of the Season, Alan Pardew:
Newcastle boss Alan Pardew says he may be unable to keep his best players if the Magpies receive big-money offers. United could qualify for next season's Champions League if they beat Everton in their final Premier League game on Sunday. But Pardew told BBC Newcastle: "It's impossible to restrict Real Madrid, Barcelona, Chelsea, Manchester City from coming in for one of our players. "We have players who are not on the salaries these top clubs can offer." Yohan Cabaye, signed from Lille for a fee reported to be £4.3m last summer, is just one of the players to have flourished after coming in to replace the likes of Andy Carroll, Joey Barton and Kevin Nolan, who left Newcastle in the previous year. Striker Demba Ba has scored 17 goals in 39 appearances this season after arriving on a free transfer from West Ham. The 26-year-old Senegal international was linked with a move away Tyneside in January with reports that a buy-out clause in his contract would force Newcastle to accept an offer as low as £5m. "Demba's release clause has been widely publicised, there is some truth to it, and some untruth," said Pardew. "There is a clause there. There is a situation with his contract and we are in talks with him and his agent. "It is not a foregone conclusion that he will stay, but the Newcastle public have played their part singing his name. He must love that." Pardew insisted that Newcastle's predicament was the same as that faced by Arsenal, who were unable to keep Samir Nasri and Cesc Fabregas from signing for Manchester City and Barcelona respectively last summer. "Forget about Everton and Aston Villa, we have put ourselves in a similar position to Arsenal," he added. "The one security I have is that [owner]Mike Ashley is a difficult seller. He is not going to let someone go for £7m, he is going to want top, top money. "But if Yohan Cabaye gets a call from Manchester United and they tell him he is going to be the next Paul Scholes I am not going to be able to stop him. "It is going to cost Manchester United a shedload of money, but until we have Champions League football, and we might have that by this weekend, we can not compete with that." As well as bracing himself for possible bids for his stars, Pardew, who was named Premier League manager of the season on Friday, revealed he is also making plans to add to his squad. "I am contemplating bringing in someone because we don't have a dominant header of the ball. On the scouting front we are looking at a centre-half who can come and score us eight goals next season," he added. "If we didn't have Demba Ba we wouldn't have Papiss Cisse and we are trying to bring another player to the club who is close to Yohan Cabaye. That is another little connection and a bit of a clue for you."
United could qualify for next season's Champions League if they beat Everton in their final Premier League game on Sunday. But Pardew told BBC Newcastle: "It's impossible to restrict Real Madrid, Barcelona, Chelsea, Manchester City from coming in for one of our players.
"We have players who are not on the salaries these top clubs can offer."
Yohan Cabaye, signed from Lille for a fee reported to be £4.3m last summer, is just one of the players to have flourished after coming in to replace the likes of Andy Carroll, Joey Barton and Kevin Nolan, who left Newcastle in the previous year.
Striker Demba Ba has scored 17 goals in 39 appearances this season after arriving on a free transfer from West Ham.
The 26-year-old Senegal international was linked with a move away Tyneside in January with reports that a buy-out clause in his contract would force Newcastle to accept an offer as low as £5m.
"Demba's release clause has been widely publicised, there is some truth to it, and some untruth," said Pardew. "There is a clause there. There is a situation with his contract and we are in talks with him and his agent.
"It is not a foregone conclusion that he will stay, but the Newcastle public have played their part singing his name. He must love that."
Pardew insisted that Newcastle's predicament was the same as that faced by Arsenal, who were unable to keep Samir Nasri and Cesc Fabregas from signing for Manchester City and Barcelona respectively last summer.
"Forget about Everton and Aston Villa, we have put ourselves in a similar position to Arsenal," he added.
"The one security I have is that [owner]Mike Ashley is a difficult seller. He is not going to let someone go for £7m, he is going to want top, top money.
"But if Yohan Cabaye gets a call from Manchester United and they tell him he is going to be the next Paul Scholes I am not going to be able to stop him. "It is going to cost Manchester United a shedload of money, but until we have Champions League football, and we might have that by this weekend, we can not compete with that."
As well as bracing himself for possible bids for his stars, Pardew, who was named Premier League manager of the season on Friday, revealed he is also making plans to add to his squad.
"I am contemplating bringing in someone because we don't have a dominant header of the ball. On the scouting front we are looking at a centre-half who can come and score us eight goals next season," he added.
"If we didn't have Demba Ba we wouldn't have Papiss Cisse and we are trying to bring another player to the club who is close to Yohan Cabaye. That is another little connection and a bit of a clue for you."
He says he will not be able to stand in the way of the bigger clubs coming in for his players. He clearly infers that Newcastle cannot offer wages to keep them even if they make the CL.
Ultimately then there is no point in a club outside of the top earners even thinking of winning CL (or Premier League) as a route to becoming a top club as the big clubs will simply buy their top players at the end of a good season.
Newcastle currently have a similar turnover to Everton but they also have a decent stadium. Even in that position, they cannot realistically hope to win the big prizes other than as a 'lucky' one-off before their players will look for a move.
What on earth is the incentive for supporters of mid-league clubs such as ourselves? What new owner will want to spend £1 billion putting us up there?
All we have to go on (and all I can tell my children) is that winning isn't everything ? but it sure is when it comes to attracting the numbers of fans needed to get us back up there amongst the elite.
I really can't see a way forward for us: the organisation of the game would have to change, the elitist model (which has a lot going for it and has made the Prem the competition it is) has to change... but nothing will happen until interest and income drops overall.
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