Sometimes you are just too close and can’t see reality…Distance can give a better perspective | OneFootball

It isn’t a new thing for Newcastle United fans to think differently to everybody else.

Or at least that is how it has felt so often.

Not least when it comes to Newcastle United fans experiencing 15 seasons kicking off under the rule of Mike Ashley.

How many times did we all have to fight our corner, as we were lectured by outsiders that all was fine, this was our place in the great scheme of things.

That Mike Ashley was supposedly not a bad football club owner, that as Newcastle United fans, having relegation battles most seasons and getting relegated on a regular basis was no more than we deserved.

Fast forward to the present day and this is a strange one.

So many outsiders seeing things very differently to so many Newcastle United fans BUT the tables turned to a large extent.

The outsiders having a far clearer perspective than NUFC supporters in so many cases, distance making others see the reality.

At the moment, I am reading comment after comment from pundits, journalists and rival fans, all saying the same thing. Seeing Newcastle United as certainties to finish top five and qualify for Champions League football next season.

When it comes to Newcastle United fans though, so many of them seeing danger at every turn, convincing themselves that our chances are balanced on a knife-edge.

No normal fan would ever claim that something is going to happen absolutely 100 per cent, because as we all know, football has a habit of biting back when you least expect it.

However, there are overwhelming reasons, in my opinion, as to why as Newcastle United fans we should have every confidence approaching these final few weeks and four games of the season.

These are the last eight results in all competitions for the seven clubs at the top of the Premier League, the ones looking forward to (hopefully) see their teams playing in the 2025/26 Champions League competition:

Liverpool – Played 8 Won 5 Drawn 0 Lost 3

Arsenal – Played 8 Won 5 Drawn 3 Lost 0

Newcastle – Played 8 Won 7 Drawn 0 Lost 1

Man City – Played 8 Won 6 Drawn 0 Lost 2

Chelsea – Played 8 Won 4 Drawn 2 Lost 2

Forest – Played 8 Won 5 Drawn 0 Lost 3

Villa – Played 8 Won 5 Drawn 0 Lost 3

I think people, including Newcastle United fans, can get themselves into a mindset that doesn’t match the facts.

For example, many Newcastle fans see their rival clubs as sure to win every match that remains.

The reality as you can see above from the other six clubs in the top seven, is that of their combined last 48 matches, they have won 30 and failed to win 18 of them. That works out at winning 62.5% of matches and failing to win 37.5% of them.

At this key late stage of the season, the other teams towards the top, failing to win slightly more than a third of their matches.

The thing is with Newcastle United (who have won 87.5% of their last eight matches) as well, this isn’t just a last six weeks scenario.

Going back almost five full months, Newcastle United have won 77% of all matches played in all competitions, 20 of 26.

There is never any place for complacency BUT for Newcastle United fans at this moment in time, there is every reason for confidence in Eddie Howe and his players completing this job of securing Champions League football, on top of that League Cup silverware.