Eddie Howe, a pawn in the wider Saudi investment machine, is unlikely to have known about his paymasters’ sensational manoeuvres to become the rulers of all professional golf and take over the country’s top four domestic clubs when he sat down with Newcastle United’s owners on the eve of their final Premier League game of the season.
Considering his consistent pleading of ignorance around all things that are not football, he may not even know now.
But the drama of the past 48 hours has brought fresh questions around what the future holds for Newcastle as it transitions from the sovereign wealth fund’s shiny new toy to merely part of the furniture.
