Big bet on Aston Villa or Newcastle United finishing higher – Sparks big six and usual bizarre rivalry debate

Newcastle United ended the 2022/23 Premier League season on 71 points, ten ahead of Aston Villa on 61.

Newcastle United ending the season in fourth place and qualifying for the Champions League.

Aston Villa finally finishing seventh and qualifying for the Europa League Conference.

So what about this new 2023/24 season that is fast approaching…

Well, the big debate (at least on Talksport!) is whether Newcastle United or Aston Villa will finish higher this time.

Alex Crook works on Talksport and he has revealed that he’s had a major charity wager with fellow Talksport employee Jim White, as to which club will be highest in the Premier League:

“Moussa Diaby is fascinating because he is a player who has been on the radar of a lot of Premier League clubs.

“He has been mentioned with the likes of Newcastle, who we know are still trying to operate under fairly strict financial controls.

“I have had a fairly sizeable charity bet with Jim White that Aston Villa finish above Newcastle United in the table, just based on the fact that I expect Villa to go big [in the transfer market].

“They’ve signed Pau Torres for decent money. This is going to be a club record transfer, Bayer Leverkusen wanting £50m.

“I think Villa are going to outspend Newcastle in this window and I think if you look at the squads from last season, I don’t think there is much in it.”

Obviously, we all know the score with Talksport, nothing they like better than igniting arguments amongst football fans, inciting one or more fanbases and enjoying the attention it then brings them.

Last season Jim White had a bet with another Talksport individual, that wager getting a lot of attention, with Simon Jordan ending up having to pay a decent few quid to charity after Newcastle United managed a top four finish for White to win his side of the bet.

This new provocation has predictably seen a fair few Aston Villa and Newcastle United fans take the bait, arguing about why their respective teams will ‘definitely’ finish higher than the other.

Who knows? Who cares? I mean that, as in who cares if fans of another club say that they think their team will finish higher than yours?

I couldn’t care a less if Aston Villa fans are convinced their side will finish higher than NUFC, likewise, I hope Brighton fans think they will do so as well. All football fans should be allowed their hopes and dreams each summer before a ball has been kicked, which is what made those years under Mike Ashley so miserable, as hope was the last thing we had ahead of almost every season during his ownership.

Anyway, as well as the usual name calling and we’re bigger than you nonsense, there was also some more intelligent / informed consensus amongst many Newcastle United and Aston Villa fans responding to the Talksport provocation.

That consensus being, wherever the likes of Newcastle and Villa end up next season, the most important thing is that the usual suspects need to be made increasingly uncomfortable. Hopefully Villa and Newcastle, Brighton as well, can all finish top seven once again and have the likes of Chelsea, Tottenham and others suffer. No longer able to automatically rely on sharing out the Champions League places amongst the usual six, along with usually the other top six placings as well.

If Newcastle United did finish below Aston Villa in the 2023/24 season, I for one wouldn’t be crying, IF at the same time Eddie Howe’s side did finish above Chelsea, Man Utd, Liverpool and Tottenham, to take fourth place once again.