Newcastle United have begun their 2024/25 Premier League season in fine fashion, with Eddie Howe guiding his side to an unbeaten start.
Four games in and the Magpies have beaten Southampton, Tottenham Hotspur and Wolverhampton Wanderers, and drawn with Bournemouth.
For all intents and purposes, the North East giants are once again a team going places, and with no European football to worry about this season, they hold an advantage on those teams expected to be around them in the English top-flight.
Newcastle’s internal squabbles are necessary says Collymore
All doesn’t appear to be well at St. James’ Park, however, with rumours circulating that there is tension behind the scenes between Eddie Howe and new sporting director, Paul Mitchell.
Former professional, Stan Collymore, believes that such tension can be good for business, and that the club shouldn’t feel wedded to Howe either.
“Any arguments or heated disagreements between club management, directors of football and the general management of the club are necessary, and if you can’t have those, you’re in real trouble,” he said to CaughtOffside for his exclusive column.
“News that Eddie Howe are Paul Mitchell are apparently at loggerheads doesn’t surprise me. You don’t want a dictatorship, otherwise you end up with what Chelsea had initially under Todd Bohely.
“If Eddie Howe were to leave Newcastle, I think it would be the club moving on from him rather than the other way around.
“I think that they’ve started the season relatively okay, and with no European football this season, there are no players flying here, there and everywhere with their country. That means Howe has no excuses in terms of bringing further success to the club.
Eddie Howe’s job is safe at Newcastle United – for now. (Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images)
“If Newcastle are fifth, sixth or seventh at a time when the likes of Aston Villa are juggling lots of different balls, I’m sure that a director of football would have been given the remit by the ownership to say, keep your eye out for other people.
“It would be ridiculous for Newcastle United to not have a hit-list too in case Eddie Howe decided tomorrow, for example, that, he wanted to move elsewhere.
“In any event, I don’t think Eddie Howe is the man for longer term and the one to get them winning titles. I just don’t.
“Why wouldn’t Newcastle even openly say Eddie Howe is our manager but if we don’t hit these quite incredible high notes consistently, then we could look elsewhere in order to continue to move forward?
“I’m watching that situation with interest at the moment.” Howe might well have considered himself hamstrung by the Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR), which means that all clubs need to fall strictly in line for Financial Fair Play purposes.
Prior to the advent of the rules, Newcastle might well have been able to go out and buy whomever they chose, given that it’s believed they are one of the richest clubs in the world.
Regardless, Newcastle’s owners, the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) won’t wait indefinitely for success to arrive under the current managerial set-up.
How the Magpies end up this season could ultimately dictate whether Howe still finds himself in the dugout for the start of the 2025/26 campaign, or if he’s available to potentially take up the England job on a long-term basis.
Top photo by Naomi Baker/Getty Images
