Newcastle United: The Surprise Package of the Season

That little London team I did a piece about yesterday? I wouldn€™t be surprised if you don€™t, as Newcastle United quite justly stole their thunder this year. Final League Position: 5th Well, well, well, who€™d have imagined this happening? Newcastle, 2 years after their promotion season, found themselves at the business end of the campaign battling for Champions League football. No you haven€™t entered a time warp from the mid- 90s, this is the years great success story. They€™ve managed to out hype promoted teams Norwich and €˜Plays just like Barcelona€™ Swansea and be one of the most talked about performers of the season through, whisper it, a seemingly brilliant infrastructure put in place by the owners. It€™s a rather remarkable turn of events that can see fans who were outraged by Chris Hughton€™s unjust sacking last season now disappointed that they didn€™t manage to make Champions League qualification under Alan Pardew (yes, that Alan Pardew) and after losing two key players and that classic €˜British Spine€™ Sky Sports pundits and Alan Hansen continue to tell us is vital to achieve anything in football ever. Hats off to Newcastle, this year was outstanding. They€™ve invested the Andy Carroll money incredibly wisely and bought affordable players based on stats, not reputation, and that€™s what has carried them through to 5th this year, where they can take their cheaply assembled squad of black & white clad merry men across Europe, albeit in the Europa League, but when you consider 3 years ago they were in the Championship and their best player was Joey Barton, I personally would be dancing on the moon right now. At some points this season squad depth has been a real issue, a couple of injuries to the defence caused mild panic half way through and there was a stage when Mike Ashley seriously considered wrapping Demba Ba in cotton wool before he went out to play; but lucky for them they have gems like Cisse to pull out of the bag. However the fact remains that whilst their starting 11 is very strong, they have very little option coming off of the bench that you could say could make a match winning difference, or cover convincingly for the first team players. However there is no real mar on what has been a truly breath taking campaign based on sound economy, great football and miss-hits masquerading as goal of the season. Well done Newcastle. Summer Transfer Targets: Another winger in the Ben Arfa mould, Demba Ba was great through the middle in the early part of the campaign but when he was pushed wider to accommodate Cisse he failed to convince and/or score goals. Making him a back up striker and utility forward would add some much needed depth in that position whilst making way for an out and out winger to provide more for Cisse. General squad depth is required throughout however I imagine with the seamlessly inexhaustible supply of players they seem to have out and about they have options in each area. Another key point is that they don€™t let players like Ben Arfa, Cabaye, Coloccini and Cisse go on to pastures new. Small wage increases if needed should help keep people at bay whilst they make a legitimate Champions League Push next year. Next Year's Goal: Has to be Champions League football, and why not? Despite a few blips this year they could have done it. They look more accomplished than Liverpool and with the necessary improvements could take on Tottenham and Chelsea (unless Abramovich spends big in the summer). Also a Europa League Challenge shouldn€™t be off the cards, people often criticise that tournament however it€™s a trophy, and trophies are made to be won.