14 of the current Premiership managers openly wrote off any chance of winning the title before a ball was kicked in the campaign, and some have written off the cup competitions.
Alan Pardew did last season, but today he insisted that Newcastle United ARE strong enough to challenge on two fronts.
Although it seems the obvious thing to do ... the Toon manager says he is keen on “attacking” the Carling Cup.
Alan Pardew: “We are looking no further than the trip to Wolves on Saturday. But we have a strong squad and a lot of good attacking talent here at Newcastle.
“We want to stay in the Carling Cup as long as we can and have as many games as we can.
“There’s a strong squad and everybody here wants to progress.
“And we feel we’re strong enough to do that.”