It seems the threat of civil war between Eddie Howe and Newcastle’s board has receded – at least for now.
Barely a month after he made plain his unease at a perceived threat to his autonomy and authority posed by the club’s new sporting director, Paul Mitchell, and performance director, James Bunce, a rapprochement has been reached at St James’ Park.
If it remains slightly fragile, Newcastle’s manager has evidently been reassured by Mitchell’s determination to sign the England defender Marc Guéhi from Crystal Palace. Should the fourth, and almost certainly final, bid of almost £65m from Tyneside currently being considered by Palace prove successful, the already receding prospect of Howe defecting to take charge of England this autumn will be extinguished. The indications on Friday were that Palace would reject that offer, leaving Howe to work with his existing squad. The London club are believed to want in excess of £70m.
Yet only four weeks ago he appeared to be spoiling for a fight with Mitchell and Bunce in much the same way that two managerial predecessors, Rafael Benítez and Kevin Keegan, crossed swords with Newcastle’s former owner, Mike Ashley and executive director, Dennis Wise, respectively.
Unlike Keegan in 2008 and Benítez in 2019, Howe looked a very long way from submitting his resignation as he addressed the media before his team’s opening game at home to Southampton on Saturday. While during last month’s training camp in Germany Howe warned his board they would need to keep him “happy” and at liberty to set “boundaries” in relationships with directors, Friday’s tone was much more conciliatory.
“I don’t know if it’s the club’s job to keep me happy,” he said. “I don’t look at it that way. This club’s given me so much. I’m not saying: ‘I demand this’ and ‘I demand that’ – I’m not that kind of guy.
“I want to push the team forward to have the best chance of being successful. I’m pushing to try and deliver that but I have to understand there are some things you cannot do. You have to accept that.”
One of Newcastle’s red lines, he evidently agrees, is overpay for Guéhi. “I’m determined to try and improve the squad,” said Howe. “But, if we can’t, I’ll go forward with the present squad with pride. I’ll back every single player to do the job we need. We’ve walked away from those [overpriced transfer targets] many times in my time here, especially when there was a ‘Newcastle tax’ on the deal. We’d phone up and the price would double. That has changed slightly; people have seen we will not pay silly fees for players.”
Howe has clearly relaxed since late June when, before the sudden departure of his long-term ally, Newcastle’s former co-owner, Amanda Staveley, the hierarchy were forced to sell two promising young players, Elliot Anderson and Yankuba Minteh, in order to allay concerns about meeting profit and sustainability rules.
“June was stressful – very, very difficult,” acknowledged Howe, now attempting to build a rapport with Mitchell and Bunce. “James has done a very good job. He’s very hands-on, hugely involved in what we do day to day. I’ve been hugely impressed by his work and how he’s adapted to us.
“I don’t have the same day-to-day contact with Paul – he’s sometimes here and sometimes away, but we’re building, I think, a very strong relationship. I’m very impressed with his work. He’s worked at some huge clubs, his CV and track record are incredible.
“In terms of the boundaries and the relationship, we’re in the early stages when we’re still adjusting to each other and forming those relationships. But so far, so good. We’re in a good place.”
It helps that Howe is under no imminent pressure to sell senior players including Kieran Trippier, Callum Wilson and Miguel Almirón before recruiting reinforcements. “There’s not necessarily financial pressure to lose anybody before the end of this window,” he said.
“But certainly in the next window we’ll have to trade players out as well as in.”
