Mags will pay high price if they fail to land place in Champions League

NEWCASTLE United know that they will be playing European football next season, but which competition it will be in is not yet clear.

- By DAVE POWELL Football writer

Heading into the final three games of the season, where the Magpies have tough games against Chelsea, Arsenal and Everton, Eddie Howe's men have a spot in next season's UEFA Champions League in their sights, sitting fourth.

But just four points separate third-placed Manchester City and seventh-placed Aston Villa, with the spoils of glory being enormously valuable to all involved, leading to a final run-in of enormous significance to the clubs involved with it having the potential to be hugely transformative for a club's plans for summer business and longer term.

By winning the Carabao Cup in March, Newcastle ensured that they would have some European football next season even if the wheels fell off in their bid for Champions League glory. But making the Champions League, as well as having a shot still of finishing the season as Premier League runners-up, would aid the club’s plans to kick on and become bonafide challengers for silverware.

When it comes to the Champions League, qualification brings with it an immediate £15.7m in income as part of the revamped league model, where clubs play a minimum of eight games instead of six. At the league stage, every win earns a club £1.8m and a draw £590,000.

For finishing in the top eight of the league phase, which seals automatic qualification to the round of 16, UEFA awards £1.7m to each team.

UEFA then rewards teams for winning each round of the knockout phase, with the winner getting £21.5m; the runner-up bagging £15.9m; the semi-finalists scooping £12.9m; the quarter-finalists £10.7m; and those making the round of 16 getting £9.4m.

There is then the significant matter of the ‘value pillar, where TV rights are spread around clubs at a value in line with the club’s successes through two pillars - a European part and non-European part.