But Rob Lee says these days are a lot different to those back in 1993 when Newcastle had the money to compete with those in the Premiership, and there is NO CHANCE we will finish third on our return to the top flight.
Rob Lee: “It’s very different to back then.
“There have been a lot of things going on behind the scenes there that have been well documented.
“For us back then it was really a case of heady heights under Kevin Keegan.
“But this time I don’t think you can take anything away from the players that are there now.
“They have done all they can and have passed the test so far with flying colours. You can’t knock the players.
“They’ve been resilient and they don’t concede many goals. Their objective was to get back to the Premier League.
“I really can’t see them slipping up.
“It isn’t a great league and they should get straight back up.
“The question once they do get back up has to be can they stay there again?
“I hope so – they don’t want to be a yo-yo team.
“I’d like to see major investment again and so would the supporters.
“Really, the club should be challenging to get back into Europe once again.
“It is big enough, and has the fans and the resources to do that.
“In 1992/93, we had players that had played in the Premier League before and ones that were up and coming who wanted to play there.
“Kevin then added to that. He brought in Andy Cole, Peter Beardsley and people like Marc Hottiger and Philippe Albert.
“All the lads believed we were going to win the league.
“We got off to a great start and won 11 out of 11 games which put us in a very good position.
“It made us believe we could and we knew we had the best players.
“There was a feel-good factor around the place. If I had to pick a moment from that season then it would probably be the Leicester City game on the final day at St James’ Park.
“We won 7-1 and the sun was shining that day.
“We were playing and the new stand behind the goal (Leazes End) was being built.
“You knew that we were going places.
“We put in a great performance and we were 6-0 up at half-time.
“It was like a carnival atmosphere that day.
“After that we went up and we didn’t have the best of starts. It took us a few games to find our feet.
“But we ended up finishing third.
“Could you see a team doing that nowadays?
“There is a huge gulf in quality between the Championship and the Premier League. In fact it is getting ridiculous.
“I hope Newcastle can just get back where they belong and stay there.”