Why I’m genuinely worried about Eddie Howe

My take on the Eddie Howe for England situation is somewhat different from others and may even be deemed a little controversial and negative. But please hear me out as I tell you why, if approached and allowed to speak to England, he might say yes.

It’s been no secret that this has so far been a summer of somewhat discontent at Newcastle. The sale of Yankuba Minteh to Brighton and Elliott Anderson to Forest to balance the books was somewhat unexpected, although good business in the circumstances. Before that, we missed out on Tosin Adarabioyo to Chelsea just as it looked like the free agent centre-back would sign.

Then there was the whole Ashworth situation. Although I admire Newcastle for sticking to their guns and not letting Desperate Dan down his rake and spade easily, it was still a long, draining and drawn-out affair that delayed our ability to appoint a new sporting director. We have an impressive replacement now in Paul Mitchell, but it's believed he was appointed without consultation and will be heavily involved in recruitment; a department Howe clearly likes control over.

Then we had the very surprising departure of Amanda and Mehrdad. As time has gone by since the two public faces of NUFC have left it appears more and more that PIF thought they’d had their day.

Which brings me to Eddie Howe and his position. Eddie had a lot to thank Amanda and Mehrdad for as there’s no doubting they were instrumental in bringing him in and huge allies over the past few years. It was and still is a masterful appointment and one that suited the takeover strategy.

Howe for me is still very much the man I want in charge to take us forward and bring success to this Club of ours. Despite not being a Geordie he just gets us and it. He’s so proud to be at the helm and I have no doubts wants to stay.

Howe-ver! Things that have gone on during the summer seem to have unsettled him slightly. Yes, he’s on record as saying he wants to stay and bring success to what he calls a great football club, but he also seems to be seeking reassurances and commitments, with the setting of "boundaries" also mentioned as he spoke (at times) like a man fearing he'd lost control at the club.

He can’t be blamed for that. After all, few saw Amanda and Mehrdad leaving and PIF have now taken a bigger and potentially more active and decisive role going forward. They want success as well and perhaps want it sooner than we all think.

We were so unfortunate last season with all our injuries to key players at key times. It was amazing that Eddie guided us to within a place of Europe at all. Perhaps we should have qualified in the Champions League and not go out of Europe at all. Who knows?

But I think that European exit coupled with no Europe this year has hurt PIF a lot. Whilst we made huge unexpected progress the season before last, we didn’t consolidate that last season. That will be a worry to PIF and the pressure will be on Howe going into 2024/25.

So, let’s take the scenario that we have a similar season this time around. What then would Eddie Howe’s future be at The Club? Ever-growing resources and so many big steps forward off the pitch have to be matched on the pitch.

If they weren’t then would PIF look even closer at Eddie Howe’s position? I think very much so and I doubt he’d survive another trophyless and non-European qualification season.

That though perhaps may be in Eddie’s head. He may look at it and think he may only have one season to turn things back to where we were the first full season after the takeover. If he’s thinking that way and England did come knocking perhaps he might jump. It's no surprise he's wanting to check how things are going to work moving forwards and assess NUFC's commitment to him if he's turning down England to say.

All that said, I not only think he’ll stay, I think he’ll be backed and supported. I also think he’ll march us back into Europe and even win some silverware. Then again, you and I will never know unless the question is asked. The question is, will the FA ask the question to see what the answer may be?