Newcastle United finished Premier League top four last season in the 2023/24 campaign.
This was the first time in twenty years that United had managed to do so (finish top four… in the top tier) since the 2002/03 season under Sir Bobby Robson.
A decade and a half of Mike Ashley ownership had helped ensure that period of having been also-rans.
The 10 seasons leading up to and including that 2002/03 season saw Newcastle United finish Premier League top four on five occasions, on average every other season.
Whilst the 11 seasons from 1993/94 to 2003/04 (inclusive) saw Newcastle finish Premier League top six in seven of the eleven seasons.
Anyway, back to the present day and the Eddie Howe era.
After a handful of games to get his feet under the table and get the players properly fit and focused, with the help of some superb experienced signings the new Newcastle United head coach rescued NUFC from what had looked a certain relegation campaign under Steve Bruce and Mike Ashley.
The second half of the 2021/22 season saw Newcastle United with the third best Premier League form in the final 19 rounds of matches.
So Premier League top three form in his first full half season, then Premier League top four in his first full season.
What next for Eddie Howe?
Well, as we all know, no secret that the NUFC head coach has faced a ridiculous number of obstacles this season, his big summer signing Sandro Tonali banned for ten months and then on top of that, an unprecedented worst ever season for injuries that Newcastle United as a club have ever experienced.
These past six months in particular have been incredibly tough, with often a whole team of first team squad players unavailable.
Yet despite that, after Newcastle thrashed Tottenham 4-0 and the other Saturday matches, this is how the Premier League table looks:
Astonishing from Eddie Howe in such adversity.
It gets even better though, because in this very period of arguably the worst run of having players unavailable, these past three months.
This is how Newcastle United have delivered in their last 11 Premier League matches, compared to the other clubs in the top half of the table:
31 points Arsenal Played 11 Won 10 Drawn 1 Lost 0
27 points Man City Played 11 Won 3 Drawn 1 Lost 0
26 points Liverpool Played 11 Won 8 Drawn 2 Lost 1
21 points Newcastle United Played 11 Won 6 Drawn 3 Lost 2
20 points Tottenham Played 11 Won 6 Drawn 2 Lost 3
19 points Chelsea Played 11 Won 5 Drawn 4 Lost 2
18 points Man U Played 11 Won 5 Drawn 3 Lost 3
17 points Villa Played 11 Won 5 Drawn 2 Lost 4
13 points West Ham Played 11 Won 3 Drawn 4 Lost 3
12 points Brighton Played 11 Won 3 Drawn 3 Lost 5
I think the form these past three months has been extraordinary, Eddie Howe most recently seeing himself forced to field a different defence almost every match, as injuries have now hammered NUFC at the back.
Despite that, the last six hours plus of Premier League action seeing Newcastle United only concede the one goal and that was the rush of blood penalty that Paul Dummett needlessly gave away.
Whilst in those last six hours of PL action, Newcastle scoring 11 goals since Bowen put West Ham 3-1 up, just after half-time.
Yes, I know it looks all but certain that Aston Villa and Spurs will prevent Newcastle United reaching Premier League top four this time.
However, I have absolutely zero doubt that if Eddie Howe had only experienced bad luck this season with unavailable players, rather than unprecedented abysmal luck, then Newcastle United would have finished Premier League top four once again, for sure.
How close, or not, they may have got to the current top three is another matter, however, I’m convinced that this season NUFC had the manager and team / squad to finish with Man City, Arsenal and Liverpool in that top four.