Paul Merson used Leeds United and Aston Villa as examples on Sky Sports News (1:47pm, October 24, 2020) to urge Newcastle United fans to be patient.
The former Arsenal and Villa star, who now works as a pundit for Sky Sports, believes that Newcastle fans should not expect immediate success under manager Steve Bruce and must plan for the long term.
Merson pointed out that big clubs such as Leeds, Villa and Wolverhampton Wanderers have not won major trophies for a while, just like Newcastle have not.
The Englishman said about Newcastle on Sky Sports News (1:47pm, October 24, 2020): “But they are playing in the Premier League. Leeds United went 14, 16 years without playing in the Premier League. Leeds United! Wow! Massive club.
“They stayed in the league for that long. That long. Aston Villa were out of the league the other year. You have got to remember this is hard. It’s hard. We can all go, ‘Wolves were punching above their weight’. What did Wolves win?”
Achieving success at Newcastle United
True, Leeds have just returned to the Premier League after being away from the division since 2004, but that does not mean that Newcastle fans should not have aspirations of winning trophies.
As Merson pointed out, Villa did get relegated from the Premier League, but the Villans returned to the top flight of English football at the end of the 2018-19 campaign.
The Magpies also went down to the Championship at the end of the 2015-16 season and bounced straight back to the Premier League, just like they did back in 2010.
Newcastle are a big club and are established in the Premier League, but the Magpies need to show more ambition and make progress on the pitch.
No one seriously expects Newcastle to win the Premier League title in the next two or three years or even to end up in the Champions League places, but they should build a team that can regularly finish in the top 10.
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