Eddie Howe has admitted that missing out on the Champions League would now feel like a disappointment.
But is refusing to get drawn into any negativity ahead of a crucial week for Newcastle United with the clash at Leeds quickly followed by a crucial home game with Brighton & Hove Albion. For the first time this season, Howe has faced up to the season's grand finale and he shifted from a consistent game by game outlook ahead of the game at Elland Road.
Speaking at his Press conference, Howe said: "I have to say at this moment, probably yes (to miss out on Champions League). But I don't really want to focus on that negative.
READ MORE: Everything Eddie Howe said in Newcastle United press conference
"It's a difficult question to answer because you're trying to take me somewhere that I don't want to be. We are where we are at the moment and we want to consolidate that and do as well as we can in these last four games. I'd be better answering that at the end of the season."
Howe also spoke about expectations on Tyneside and confessed that avoiding relegation would probably have been deemed a success in the eyes of many. Howe, though, knows that things have moved on quickly since then.
He said: "I think I spoke here and said the aim initially this season was to make sure we're not in a relegation battle after last year and what had happened. That was where I stood at the start of the season.
"Things have snowballed, now we sit where we do and we've done incredibly well. You transport yourself back to the start of the season and go 'we will guarantee European football the following season' would have been 'wow that's incredible'.
"Nothing more than Newcastle deserves but the supporters deserve that experience. But that in itself would have been an incredible thing to achieve. We do need to keep it in context but we have a bigger prize to try and achieve."
