They don't spend a lot of star players, but they have pretty good performances. Indeed, since the change of owners, Newcastle has become better, they have been shopping for players but not too big like Man United, Chelsea or other clubs. Although at first I thought they would bring in a lot of star players, but that didn't happen.
If it compares to Notthingham it might be different, I think Newcatle is more experienced. Nottingham may struggle next season, this is because many players will be leaving. As always, those who get offers from big clubs will tend to leave because of more salaries and bigger teams.
For some Newcastle players are quite equal to star players because we can see their quite good abilities. In addition, the players owned by Newcastle are also quite solid so it is easy for the coach to find opportunities to stay in the top five of the standings, even though they did not bring in a number of players like Chelsea or Man United.
Different from Nottingham Forest because they have only performed well this season and they also do not have such good squad depth so it is difficult for them to stay in the top five of the standings for next season. Not to mention a number of other teams are starting to overhaul their squads so it will be much more difficult for Nottingham Forest to play consistently at least like this season.