Alan Shearer has hit the nail on the head with his assessment of Newcastle United's impending return to Champions League football. The Magpies know six points from their final five games would all but secure a return to battling it out with Europe's elite.
Eddie Howe and his coaching staff have done an incredible job in transforming the Toon from relegation fodder into European contenders. Shearer says the black and white fanbase have been starved of success/
Shearer told the BBC: "The last time they were there, in 2002-03, I was a Newcastle player under Sir Bobby Robson and the whole city was buzzing, not just the club. The same thing is happening now, and it has been like this for the past few months.
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"Wherever you go and whoever you speak too, the feeling with the fans is back to what it was like under Kevin Keegan and Sir Bobby - it is a happy football club again, something it had not been for such a long time. Howe deserves great credit for making that happen, and a top-four finish would help him continue the amazing progress he has already made.
"Champions League football would help with everything, from attracting bigger and better players to being able to pay for them without worrying about breaking any Financial Fair Play rules. More than anything, though, it would mean so much to the Newcastle supporters.
"The mood in the city would just be ecstatic and I don't think many people would disagree with me when I say that if any fans deserve a little bit of success, it is them - they have been starved of it for far too long."
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