CHRIS HUGHTON last night denied Newcastle will need major changes to survive in the Premier League, and claimed the gap between the bottom half of the top-flight and the top half of the Championship is smaller than ever.

The Magpies entertain Blackpool this afternoon looking to secure three of the seven points they need to claim the Championship title, but after promotion was secured on Monday evening, thoughts are already turning to next season’s return to the top-flight.

Earlier this month, Nottingham Forest manager Billy Davies claimed Newcastle would have to spend £60m to secure their Premier League survival, but as he begins to formulate his summer plans, Hughton has claimed he does not expect to need anything like that figure.

The Newcastle boss feels he already has the core of a squad that will be good enough to hold its own in the top-flight, and does not anticipate a wholesale overhaul during the transfer window.

“I don’t think significant changes are needed,” said Hughton, whose side need to avoid defeat today, and against Ipswich on April 24, to become the first Newcastle team to go through an entire season unbeaten at home for more than a century.

“We have a team with great momentum at the moment from winning a lot of games this season. We also have a lot of players who have developed this season and have had really good seasons. They are things you can’t ignore.

“There will be decisions on where we need to strengthen, where we need cover, but those decisions always take place. I think we’ve got a core that will be the core that starts next season.”

Newcastle are the first team in the Premier League era to secure promotion to the topflight with five games still to play and, as such, are much better positioned than either of the sides that gained automatic promotion 12 months ago.

Of those sides, reigning champions Wolves are currently five points above the drop zone, while runners up Birmingham are enjoying a sensational season that currently sees them riding high in ninth position in the table.

Both were expected to be fighting for their lives at this stage of the campaign, and Hughton draws solace from the fact that both look like surviving for a second season in the top-flight.

The days of promoted sides being automatic favourites for relegation are gone, and the gap between the top two divisions of the English game appears to have closed considerably in recent years.

Today, there is arguably a bigger gap between a side chasing Europe like Aston Villa and the bottom four or five in the Premier League than between those relegation- threatened sides and the top four or five in the league below them.

“You look at Birmingham and how they’ve gone about their business in the Premier League, and see the great run Wolves have been on of late, and you have to take encouragement from that,” said Hughton.

“What you’ve got there is two very good Championship clubs that have gone into the Premier League and applied themselves very well in that division.

“I think the gap between the leagues is less now. What has happened, and will continue to happen, is that you have a bigger group of teams who are yo-yo teams who will spend some time in the Championship and some in the Premier League.

“I see that happening over the years, so our aim has to be stay in the Premier League and not be one of those teams.”

That might not sound like an attractive ambition for a club that was competing in the last 16 of a European competition as recently as three years ago, but there is a general acceptance from everyone involved with Newcastle that circumstances have changed.

The vast majority of supporters accept that survival has to be the aim next season, and are sensible enough not to hanker for a repeat of the 1993-94 season that saw the Magpies finish third in their first season back in the topflight.

“Stability is the perfect word for this club going back into the Premier League,” said Hughton. “We’ve had that this season, but I realise we’ve plied our trade outside the top division. It’s tougher to do the same in the top league, but that has to be the aim.

“We have a passionate support who turn up regularly and want to see their team winning, and winning in a certain way. But there is an understanding that this is a team that has been in the Championship now going into the top-flight. The expectation of where a team goes from the Championship to the Premier League is not the same as it was a few years ago.”