With Paul Mitchell having stood down at the end of June, Newcastle found themselves having to negotiate what proved to be an extremely fraught summer transfer window without a sporting director in place.
That proved to be far from ideal, with Howe having to assume increased responsibility for transfer matters as part of a makeshift executive team that also featured his nephew, Andy, and head of recruitment Steve Nickson.
Having announced the appointment of David Hopkinson as their new chief executive earlier this week, Newcastle are hoping to appoint a new sporting director in the next few weeks, with Nottingham Forest’s chief football officer, Ross Wilson, understood to be the clear frontrunner for the role.
Given the tensions were apparent in his relationship with Mitchell, it has been suggested that Howe would rather work without a sporting director above him, but the Magpies head coach insists that is not the case.
While he pointedly refused to reference Mitchell, he claims to have had positive experiences with other sporting directors he has worked alongside, regarding the post as essential to the successful operation of a modern-day Premier League club.
“I don’t know where that has come from \[the idea that he doesn’t like working with a sporting director\],” said Howe. “I’m desperate for a sporting director. The way the modern football club works, I think you need that person with the expertise, the person who’s going to lead the club in all sorts of different ways.
**READ MORE**:
“That might be the academy, transfers, it’s a never-ending network now that the sporting director has to navigate his way through. So, it’s an absolutely pivotal position.
“I had a very good relationship with Dan Ashworth and a very good relationship with Richard Hughes at Bournemouth for many years. We need the position filled, but ideally with the right man, the man who can lead the club forward in many different ways to a very successful era. I’m fully supportive of the position.”
Howe has already held a number of discussions with Hopkinson, and is confident the Canadian, who has previously worked as Real Madrid's global head of partnerships and president and CEO of Madison Square Garden Corp, which owns the NBA’s New York Knicks and NHL’s New York Rangers, is the right man to succeed Darren Eales.
“I’ve had several conversations,” said Howe. “He’s a great person with great energy. I laugh because he’s very, very positive. I think he’s a great appointment. I think it’s an appointment that was much needed.
“Unfortunately, with Darren’s illness, it left a big gap. Hopefully, off the pitch, he can take the club into a new direction.”