Newcastle United’s promotion is more impressive in hindsight

The Magpies were undoubtedly the division’s biggest spenders in 2016/17, but that shouldn’t undermine the achievement.

Played in front of an attendance of 85,243 at Wembley Stadium, Fulham’s 1-0 victory over Aston Villa in the Championship Playoff Final last week was a testament to the high stakes of what is arguably one of the world’s toughest sports competitions.

With at least £160m of revenue estimated as the prize for promotion to the Premier League, it’s almost unfathomable to imagine the heartbreak for those Villa fans who until recently, were used to being big spenders in the top flight of English football. But such is the reality of the modern game, and the Championship is a cruel mistress.

The most obvious example of this is the dramatic fall of Reading, who in 2016/17 finished 3rd and were a whisker away from promotion, only to suffer a dramatic penalty shootout loss in the Playoff Final to Huddersfield. One year later and the Royals had a disastrous season, narrowly avoiding relegation to League One on the final day of the season, finishing only 3 points above the drop zone.

This could’ve easily been a reality for the Magpies had they failed to achieve promotion. Recently released accounts show that the club ran a £90.9m operating loss during the 2016/17 season, and even more staggering is the £112.2m wage budget that was the highest ever in Football League history.

https://twitter.com/nufc/status/861234079819321346?lang=en

Thankfully all the expenditure paid off, as Benitez guided the Toon to a title winning 94 points and an excellent goal difference of +45, but in the Championship you need more than just a bulging wallet. The same team spirit that saw Newcastle finish 10th this season was being cultivated in the Championship, and that’s a quality that money simply cannot buy in the upper echelons of English football.

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Cardiff City under the ever polarising eye of Neil Warnock did exactly that this season, finishing 2nd and achieving automatic promotion in a year where they weren’t even expected to be challenging for the playoffs. But Cardiff were an outlier in a league full of big teams, many of whom still have Premier League ambitions, and these were the sides Newcastle had to compete with in 2016-17.

The Magpies finished only 1 point above Brighton in 2016-17, but a goal difference advantage of +11 looks even better in hindsight given how Chris Hughton had his side above Newcastle for the majority of 2017-18. It could be argued that the aforementioned Huddersfield were lucky to win both Championship playoff games on penalties last year, but by all accounts, they are a Premier League quality side given their survival this season. Newcastle finished 14 points above David Wagner’s side in the Championship, including a whopping +47 differential in goal difference, which considering Newcastle’s scoring woes this year is perhaps the most impressive statistic of them all.

For the first time in over a decade, every side in England’s top four leagues that was promoted following the 2016-17 season avoided relegation. A remarkable feat, and regardless of expenditure for Newcastle to win the title against two other Premier League quality sides attest to the commitment of ex-Champions League winner Benitez in taking the Championship plunge.

Although it wasn’t just Brighton and Huddersfield who Newcastle had to compete with in 2016-17. Apart from Middlesbrough, every team in the playoffs this year was still in the division during that season, with the now Premier League side Fulham finishing only 1 point below Huddersfield.

Poor seasons from Derby, Villa and Wolves certainly helped the Magpies, but they are all clubs with playoff ambitions, and in the Championship for every underachieving side an overachieving one takes its place.

There were no easy games for Newcastle in 2016-17, and after seeing Derby, Middlesbrough and Villa all miss out on promotion this year, do not let anyone tell you that it was easy for the Magpies to bounce straight back up to the Premier League.

Fulham looked fantastic and played some very eye-catching football this season, but it still took an agonising final 20 minutes, holding on with 10 men at Wembley to repay all their hard work. Without promotion they could easily have been forced to sell their two best players, Tom Cairney and 18 year old wonderkid Ryan Sessegnon, and this could easily have been the case with Newcastle who would’ve been forced into a firesale of all high-earners (including Rafa Benitez).

Villa are in a similar situation this year, and although their wage bill is not quite as steep as the Magpies was, they will have to restructure and cut down vastly on operating costs after missing out on the golden chalice that is Premier League TV money.

Next: 2017-18 review: Matt Ritchie

It may be possible for Villa to bounce back next year, but it will require a lot of careful planning and shrewd business that would almost definitely have not be possible for Newcastle had they suffered the same fate. In hindsight, the Magpies’ 2016-17 season could turn out to be one of the most important in their recent history, provided Mike Ashley holds up his end of the bargain to make sure Tyneside doesn’t see Championship football return for a very long time.