Newcastle United had not played a game under their new ownership group last October when Amanda Staveley confirmed a desire to win the Premier League on Tyneside.
"We have the same ambitions as PSG and Manchester City in terms of trophies," the co-owner added.
Newcastle were winless and in the bottom three, where they would remain until February, so this seemed an optimistic target, even given the wealth of Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund.
The Magpies are highly unlikely to challenge City for their title this season either, but they are at least looking up now.
From the date of the takeover until the end of the season, Newcastle earned the sixth-most points in the division (46); in 2022, they have earned the fourth-most (38); in points-per-game terms, Eddie Howe's men are third for the calendar year (2.0).
Howe – appointed a month after Staveley arrived at St James' Park – has since had the benefit of a pre-season, while Newcastle have again invested in the transfer market following January's world-leading £90million outlay.
So, how far can Newcastle go in 2022-23? And which of the established big boys might be under threat?
'Europe is definitely a goal'
Staveley's aims appeared quite modest by the time Bruno Guimaraes took to the podium in his introductory news conference following a £35m switch from Lyon.
"We want more, we want to win the Champions League," the Brazil midfielder announced.
Let alone winning the Champions League, Newcastle have not played in the competition since 2003; their last appearance in any European tournament came back in 2013.
But the Magpies now have a squad determined to end the club's absence from continental action after 10 years.
"I believe we can challenge for European football this season," Joelinton told FourFourTwo. "It might be hard to qualify for the Champions League just yet, but why not? We want to at least compete for a Europa League spot."
Sven Botman, a new signing from Lille, added to Mail Online: "Europe is definitely a goal this season. I believe we can achieve that."
If Newcastle can maintain their form to date under Howe, Europa League qualification should be comfortably within their reach.
But the coach, perhaps understandably, is a little more guarded than his ambitious stars, offering only: "As long as expectations are controlled, then we'll be fine.
"This season is about progression, improvement. We want to evolve into the team we want to be in the future."
Better even before buying
Newcastle's evolution to this point has primarily centred around their defence – understandably, given they shipped 80 goals in 2021, a Premier League record for a calendar year.
It was this sort of worrying statistic that prompted doubts about Howe's suitability as the man to turn the Magpies around, with his stint as Bournemouth boss seeing at least 60 conceded in each Premier League season.
Yet in 2022, just four sides have let in fewer than Newcastle (20); only three have kept more clean sheets (seven).
Three of the five players signed in January were defenders, while Botman and goalkeeper Nick Pope have since followed, and the pre-season focus on maintaining possession should ease the pressure on that back line considerably.
It is now at the other end of the pitch where there are slight concerns.
Howe has openly discussed the need for offensive recruits, with the week before Saturday's opener at Nottingham Forest bringing reports of two failed bids for Leicester City playmaker James Maddison.
There clearly remains an over-reliance on Allan Saint-Maximin, who created 50 chances last season – two more than Maddison but also an alarming 21 more than his next team-mate (Joelinton).
Getting on the end of those passes, Newcastle also need Callum Wilson to stay healthy. He has scored 20 goals from just 84 shots over the past two seasons; of the Premier League players to tally 20 or more in that time, only Son Heung-min could better Wilson's conversion rate of 23.8 per cent.
That Wilson's fitness record was so poor last season actually suggests Newcastle could get better without significant reinforcement, though.
Not until the final two matches of the season, in wins over Arsenal and Burnley, did Guimaraes, Saint-Maximin and Wilson all start together.
'Big six' in Howe's sights
With all of the 'big six' pursuing a top-four finish, there are not enough Champions League places to go around even before considering the league's third-best team this year.
Newcastle will not catch City or Liverpool this season – even if Stats Perform's League Prediction model, calculated using betting market odds and Stats Perform's team rankings, counts the Magpies among seven potential title winners (albeit just a 0.03 per cent shot) – but the teams below the top two might all be within Howe's sights after warning shots were fired last term.
Chelsea ended a nine-game unbeaten run for Newcastle in controversial circumstances in March, snatching a 1-0 victory, while Tottenham capitalised on a rare off-day to win 5-1 the following month, but only after trailing to a Fabian Schar free-kick.
Arsenal were not so lucky, seeing their top-four hopes dashed on a brutal evening at St James' Park when Guimaraes, Saint-Maximin and Wilson teamed up from the start for the first time.
Manchester United are yet to play Newcastle in 2022 but were fortunate to escape with a draw from Tyneside in the final game of the previous calendar year.
Spurs and Arsenal are at least widely considered to have improved since the end of last season, spending well, but the same may not be true of Chelsea and United.
In the 2022 standings, Chelsea are sixth, and their transfer window has not panned out quite as they hoped. United have been frustrated, too, and they are a distant ninth since the turn of the year – nine points shy of Newcastle having played a game more.
If the team from Tyneside continue to go from strength to strength, two of English football's giants may have to improve merely to make the Europa League, let alone the Champions League.
Harry Maguire accepts big changes 'rightly' coming at Man Utd
Harry Maguire accepts there will be big changes at Manchester United at the end of the season, but he says everyone at the club must remain together amid fierce criticism of their displays.
United have endured a miserable second season under Erik ten Hag, sitting seventh in the Premier League table and 16 points adrift of the top four ahead of Wednesday's visit of Sheffield United.
They could yet end the campaign with silverware after reaching the FA Cup final with Sunday's penalty shoot-out victory over Coventry City, but they have been heavily criticised after narrowly avoiding a humiliating loss in that semi-final.
Ten Hag's men squandered a 3-0 lead and were fortunate to avoid a 4-3 defeat in the dying moments of extra time, when Victor Torp's potential winner was disallowed for a marginal offside call.
Roy Keane said United's players looked "embarrassed" to win the tie, though Ten Hag later said it was the negative media coverage of his team that was embarrassing.
Speaking to Sky Sports ahead of Wednesday's meeting with his former club, Maguire said: "I've been at this club a long enough time to know that the noise around the place is always here, whether it's with the manager or the players.
"There are players under huge amounts of pressure and when you lose matches or go on bad runs, the manager comes under pressure as well.
"We all know it's about maintaining our focus and aims for the season and sticking together. We believe that we can still achieve things this season.
"We've got an FA Cup final, Premier League games to fight in and we're all in this together. The manager, the players, the fans, we all want the same thing and that's to be successful."
United's players celebrated Sunday's win in a muted fashion, with the exception of winger Antony, who has been roundly mocked for cupping his ears to taunt Coventry's players.
Reflecting on the end of that game, Maguire said: "It was a really strange mix of emotions. I don't think we needed to celebrate too hard.
"We let ourselves down in the last 20 minutes of normal time and to play for this club, it involves huge responsibility, and we didn't take responsibility in that last 20 minutes.
"You're coming to training the next day and you're in another FA Cup final. It's what you dream of playing in when you're a young boy, so the boys are really happy.
"But like I said, the way the game ended, we were disappointed with the way we acted."
A decision on Ten Hag's future is one of many which must be made by new minority shareholder Jim Ratcliffe in the coming weeks, after the INEOS founder was handed full control of football operations at Old Trafford.
Maguire has faith in INEOS to get things right in the close season, saying: "They've brought a lot of positivity to the club and to the fanbase. I think there will be changes and rightly so.
"The club is wanting to get back to where it was 15 years ago, and that's fighting for the big trophies and league titles. I'm sure they have a plan."
Grant McCann hails ‘outstanding’ response as Doncaster close on play-off spot
Grant McCann was a proud man after Doncaster won 4-1 at Colchester to register a 10th straight victory and move into the play-off places.
Colchester took a ninth-minute lead through Jayden Fevrier, who converted Tom Hopper’s cross at the far post, but remain in relegation danger after Rovers’ emphatic comeback.
Luke Molyneux equalised after collecting Jamie Sterry’s short free-kick and scoring with a low 25-yard shot and Doncaster took a 22nd-minute lead through Harrison Biggins, who netted from close range from Molyneux’s delivery.
Tom Anderson netted a third in the 76th minute at the near post from Hakeeb Adelakun’s pass, and Joe Ironside sealed victory when he converted after Sam Hornby had tipped James Maxwell’s shot onto a post.
A point on the final day against Gillingham will seal a play-off spot regardless of results elsewhere and McCann said: “I’m really proud.
“Obviously conceding early wasn’t ideal for us but the response was outstanding.
“We scored two very good goals, the first one from Mols (Molyneux) and the second one was another very good goal and something we knew could help us in the game, Biggo’s (Biggins) runs from the centre circle in between the posts after good play by Mols.
“In the first half, we were a little bit edgy and it was a little bit even Steven in the game.
“But in the second half, we were really comfortable and scored another couple of really good goals.
“We always play for more goals; we never sit tight and take what we’ve got – that’s just the way we like to go about things.
“We came up against a team that’s obviously down the wrong end of the table and we knew it was going to be tough.”
Fevrier had Colchester on track to secure survival but they go into Saturday’s final game just three points above the drop zone, with their goal difference superior by four over Sutton.
Colchester boss Danny Cowley said: “It was a tough night for us.
“We have the ability to self-harm, to self-destruct, in a game where we let four terrible goals in.
“For 75 minutes, it was 2-1 and they’ve had three shots at goal, two from 30 yards, and somehow they’re winning the game.
“We were 2-1 down at half-time where we felt we shouldn’t have been, as we’d done a lot right.
“We were in total ascendency and they don’t even want to score any more goals, they want to hang onto what they’ve got and we gift them another two goals.
“I’ve just looked back at the goals and they’re very hard to defend.
“We actually played well box to box but you can’t say you’ve played well when we’ve conceded the goals that we have.
“It’s a damaging night and I’m really angry. We just did the basics so poorly.”
Barrow must stick together in quest to secure play-off spot – Pete Wild
Barrow boss Pete Wild stressed his side must stick together to secure a League Two play-off spot on the final day of the season.
The Bluebirds suffered a fifth defeat in a painful six-game winless run with a last-gasp 2-1 loss to Bradford.
It means they have to get a result when they host promoted Mansfield on Saturday.
Bobby Pointon opened the scoring with a great strike in the first half before Kian Spence levelled with a free-kick after the break.
But former on-loan Barrow forward Tyler Smith came off the bench to score a bruising stoppage-time winner against his old club.
And Wild said: “We didn’t do anything with or without the ball. We were frustrated at half-time. I told them ‘we’ve got to have a go and try to get over the line’.
“We played really well second half, had a go, came out fighting and got the goal, but it wasn’t enough.
“We were on the front foot. We kept trying to throw subs on to put impetus into the game and you get hit by a sucker punch at the end.
“We had four chances to clear the ball and that’s been the month hasn’t it. There have been key moments in game, chances and opportunities with the football and we’ve not done that.
“We weren’t getting a glove on them and we had to try and be braver, second half.
“I will never make it about them, it’s about us. We’re all a collective. We will win together and lose together and that’s how we’ve gone through the season.
“What we have to do now is just stick together and try to keep going.
“Across the last four games you have seen glimpses of us, but not enough of us across a full 90 minutes to get over the line.”
The Bantams were indebted to Sheffield-born Smith’s late winner for their fourth-straight win.
Boss Graham Alexander said: “I’m pleased that the players have once again showed character and personality to once again get a win from a game we should never have been drawing anyway.
“We were brilliant in the first half and should have been two or three up. But we weren’t and a good team like Barrow are going to come back into it and have a spell of pressure and momentum.
“Ultimately they got a goal from it. From our perspective it’s a poor one to concede going through the wall.
“Our performance became a bit flat after that. They had real quality and gained chances.
“The subs that came on halted their momentum.
“They were going for it as well and it was going to be (down to) who had that quality to score.
“To be fair to Tyler, he would have been under massive pressure in his own head, but he stuck it in the corner so fair play to him.”
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