Rewind to the start of the season and those in the north east with a black and white persuasion were openly talking about a top 10 finish and a cup run marking a successful first full season for Eddie Howe and his Newcastle United.
Fast forward to present day and there will now be a tinge of disappointment should the Magpies fail to qualify for the Champions League from their current position. Of course, the vast majority of the St James' Park faithful will still be delighted with a fifth, sixth or seventh-placed finish as long as it means the passports can be dusted off for a European tour next term.
Though while qualifying for one of the two lesser European competitions would rightly be celebrated at this stage in Newcastle's journey, missing out on the top four would slow the club's growth somewhat. Not least because of the finances involved when you reach the Champions League.
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The 32 teams who qualified for the group stage of the competition received a whopping £13.48m last season, while group stage performance bonuses were paid for each match - £2.4m for a win and £802,000 for a draw.
£8.2m was awarded to teams who reached the last 16, £9.1m for the quarter-finals, £10.7m for the final four and £13.3m to the finalists, with £3.8m extra for the champions.
In contrast, Europa League and Europa Conference League figures are understandably dwarfed by the biggest competition in club football. The winner of the first-named tournament earns £7.8m, while the winner of the latter takes home £4.3m.
Qualifying for the Europa League group stage earns teams £3.3m, while reaching the Conference League group stage pays £2.5m.
Of course, it is not only the revenue streams that will affect how successful Newcastle are. Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp hit the nail on the head earlier this season when he spoke of the Champions League being an incredibly important attraction for big-name players.
Klopp was recently pressed for comment on whether missing out on the top four would mean the Reds are hamstrung in the summer transfer window. He said: "It’s not helpful (if Liverpool miss out on the top four). Money always has an impact. But this cannot be that much of an impact, let me say it like this.
“Of course it is influential but this is a summer where we have to be in the market, definitely. I am sorry that we cannot guarantee the Champions League at this moment but it’s not done yet."
Newcastle kept their powder relatively dry in January, only opting to purchase two players despite finding themselves light in certain positions. The expectation is that a big summer of spending is on the way come the next transfer window.
Newcastle have been clear they are taking Financial Fair Play regulations very seriously and need commercial deals to arrive in their masses over the coming months as the owners prepare to splash yet more cash both on and off the pitch.
“We were prudent. Because we’d have hit our FFP buffer quite quickly because we didn’t have the revenues some of the other big clubs have on the commercial side,” said Amanda Staveley at the Financial Times’ Business of Football Summit recently.
Playing Europa League or Europa Conference League football would be a fantastic achievement for Newcastle but managing to bustle their way into the top four would be a financial game-changer for the Tyneside outfit.
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