Job done. After a surprising 3-1-1 in the last 5 matches, Newcastle was comfortably above the drop zone with 3 matches to play. Fulham did the final touch by losing to Burnley on Monday. Of course, 15th place is even lower than our usual aspirations, but with the club recently genuinely up for sale, Premier League status was probably required to still fetch a price that the fat man might accept. If we didn't have the hope of a sale, we'd have no hope at all.
I'd entirely forgotten about this board. I'm half 'checked out' on NUFC anymore to be honest. It seems like the 'perfect season' is one where relegation is avoided but there's no chance of Europe at all. Thus avoiding the income loss of not being in the Premiership but not having the additional cost of European play. There's just no ambition in the club ownership or management it seems. Coming to play at Newcastle is a 'stepping stone' for anyone with good talent to 'get seen on a larger stage' and 'a steady paycheck' for people who have the talent for the tier but not to move up.
I'd say anyone could be forgiven for waiting until Ashley is gone to re-engage. He clearly only spends when he thinks he has to in order to avoid relegation, and he's gotten that wrong twice! Not only is there no effort to improve on anything good that might happen to us, but we've also played a lot of embarrassing football along the way. We're second lowest in possession and passing this season, behind only an historically bad Sheffield United. We couldn't even boss Sheffield United when we played head-to-head (0-1, 1-0) It's tough to watch. And if we do stay up, our owner gets to do it all over again next season. There is truly no hope to play at our level as a club until he is gone.