Eddie Howe has refused to accept that Newcastle United's first crack at the Champions League under ambitious Saudi owners will be about testing the water in the competition.
The stakes have been raised significantly for Newcastle and they may end up going into a group with Real Madrid, Barcelona or Borussia Dortmund. But Howe is not fearful about the prospect of playing the big guns.
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United will be one of the lowest seeds in the group, but Howe is excited by the competition more than anything else. After some suggestions on social media that finishing third in the group and then getting a crack at the so-called less daunting Europa League, Howe refused to put any boundaries on United's European campaign.
Howe was even asked if the club could go all the way in the tournament and told reporters: "Never say never. I wouldn’t sit here and say yes, and I wouldn’t sit here and say no, either.
"The challenge when you look at the teams in the Champions League, it’s a brilliant thing to be part of. But you don’t just want to experience it, you want to compete.
"I will never give a prediction, but we want to be competitive. We definitely want to enjoy it and take a lot from the experience but, when you’re there and you’re in it, you’re there to try and win. That is always our approach."
The Toon head coach though knows that delivering Champions League football every season is going to be tough. He went on: "It is very difficult (to stay top four every season), but it’s not impossible. It’s about improvement - I said the same this time last year. People will always look at league position as the gauge for that, but we look at many other things that go into the team performance.
"We want to improve and we have to improve quickly. Other clubs that maybe didn’t have the seasons they want will come back fighting."
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