According to Simon Jordan, Newcastle’s return to the Champions League does not constitute a “free hit” in the same way as it did for Rangers last season.
The talkSPORT analyst remarked live on the station on September 19th, before of the Magpies’ first group stage game in 21 seasons, that they would have to be held to the same standards as the Light Blues if they got their “heads handed to them” in every game.
Last season, Giovanni van Bronckhorst oversaw the worst group stage campaign in competition history, losing all six games, which Jordan said was a “free hit” that got him “booted out of his job.”
“No, a free hit in the minds of whom?” Jordan said. Is it the players who believe they have a free hit? Do you believe Eddie Howe will approach the game with that mindset? Maybe the media will portray it that way…
“If they go in there and have their heads handed to them, and they get defeated every game, then you have to apply the same criteria that you used to Rangers last year; you can’t sit there and say that since everyone likes Newcastle now… they should be allowed a different degree of dispensation…
“I don’t believe those players believe it’s a free hit, and I don’t believe the manager believes it’s a free hit.” We’ve all seen how a free hit looks. Rangers get their head handed to them, and Giovanni van Bronckhorst loses his position.”
Oranges and apples
Newcastle’s goalless draw in Milan on Tuesday night has already saved them from the same fate that Rangers suffered a year ago.
However, aside from the fact that both teams had been out of the group stage for some time, the scenario is not the same.
While the Gers’ absence was around half that of Newcastle, when it comes to ties against the likes of PSV Eindhoven, the funding differential is a world apart from the Saudi-backed Newcastle enterprise.
Aside from the psychological challenge of making the step up, there’s no reason Newcastle shouldn’t be able to compete with the transfer amounts they can currently afford on a regular basis.
And they have a lot of players with sufficient experience in the competition at other teams, whereas Rangers’ past season was definitely a significant step forward.
The collapse game after game in what was undoubtedly a difficult group was unacceptable, and it was a significant part of why Michael Beale ended up replacing Van Bronckhorst, while failure to reach the group stage at all is also a bad point on the current manager’s record.
In other Rangers news, an ex-referee acknowledged to being “really irked” by what he witnessed.
