Simon Jordan eats his words with ‘zero respect’ Newcastle United message

Newcastle’s 0-0 draw with Leicester City at St James’ Park on Monday night guaranteed a top four finish for Eddie Howe’s side and a place in next season’s Champions League group stage. The progress The Magpies have made since being taken over in October 2021 has been staggering as the club has risen from the foot of the Premier League to the Champions League in less than 18 months.

And talkSPORT pundit Jordan believes there is still more to come from Newcastle, having been made to eat his words.

“It’s not the peak,” Jordan said on talkSPORT. “Whether there’s a plateau before they go again? I mean, the Saudis don’t do second, that’s not the motivation of their aim.

“You cannot imagine that they aren’t going to be a force. In fact, part of my thinking thinks that out of the pack that will unseat Man City, it might well be Newcastle.

“Not next year because I still think they’ve got a way to go, but I still think they’re on their journey and they’re well on their journey.

“They’ve laid really good foundations. Everything they’ve done, despite my vitriol and criticism initially, has been pretty much right from Eddie Howe coming in.

“I wasn’t an admirer of his and made many observations that teams like his can’t defend and that I felt he had abstained from the pressure of Celtic and I have to eat all those words because events have overtaken those observations.

“Everything about the football club at this moment in time has an irresistibility about it.

“Put aside the 0-0 draw last night that was just hundreds and thousands on top of the 99 ice cream. They’re in the Champions League and they should go in there with zero respect for it, zero fear of it and zero worry about playing in European football.

”It’s not a free hit. What it is, is a huge opportunity and I think they’ll take it. I think they will inevitably be the side that challenges Manchester City because they have the economic resources to do so.”