It has been just over nine years since Craig Bellamy scored an injury time winner against Feyenoord to take Newcastle United through to the second group stage of the Champions League. The club have not returned to the competition since, having been knocked out the following year in the preliminary qualifiers after losing out to Partizan Belgrade. Now though nearly a decade later, there is talk that the club could sneak a fourth place finish in this season's Premier League, despite some dubious displays from Alan Pardew's side. The question is, can they really push one of the established top four out of the running for the Champions League slots? The answer is probably not, with their inconsistent performances and infamous instability at boardroom level meaning that conditions are not really conducive to succeeding season after season. The closest the club have come to the top four is back in the 2011/12 season, where they managed a fifth place finish in the league, just four points behind Tottenham Hotspur, who ousted Chelsea from Europe's big stage. With four wins in their last five games the club have risen to seventh place, just four points off fourth spot, and many are starting to believe that they can qualify for the Champions League once more. However, here are the reasons why they will just miss out on Europe's elite competition.
Began writing about football aged 16, I've previously worked for Goal and I'm currently writing for Inside Spanish Football. Specialise in anything linked, connected with or involving football!
