Newcastle’s former winger is confident about what they can achieve this term.
Keith Gillespie
Keith Gillespie has predicted that Newcastle United will be back in the Premier League this time next year, and insisted that they should be looking to compete around the top six in the top flight, the Chronicle reports.
Despite losing their first two games in the Championship this term, Rafael Benitez’s men have bounced back in recent weeks and now sit third in the table nearly a quarter of the way through the campaign.
Newcastle United manager Rafa Benitez
And Gillespie – who was part of the Newcastle side that finished second in the league twice during the mid-nineties – has backed the Magpies to continue on that path back to the top table.
“This place is incredible in terms of what they feel about football and what it means to them,” he said, as reported by the Chronicle.
“This place needs Premiership football and I think this time next year they will have it because Newcastle are geared for the Premiership.
“They should be a top-six side every year because of the size of the place, the size of the city, everything in terms of what football means to them.”
Newcastle United’s Yoan Gouffran celebrates scoring their first goal
Having kept a Champions League-winning manager at the helm, and having signed several players with Premier League experience, Newcastle are unsurprisingly one of the favourites to secure promotion.
And, perhaps more encouragingly, the foundations they have laid over the summer and have built upon since should surely give the club a much better chance of being able to establish themselves at the highest level if they do manage to go up this season.
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