Eddie Howe reportedly held frank meetings with his Newcastle players before they went on a six-game winning streak which helped to secure Champions League qualification. The Magpies will be taking part in Europe's biggest club tournament next season, having finished in the Premier League's top five. They were beaten by Everton on the final day but other results went in their favour.
A patchy start to the campaign saw Newcastle win three of their opening four games before a steep decline in form. They failed to win any of their next five matches, slipping to defeats against Fulham, Brighton and Chelsea. Back-to-back wins followed before another poor spell in which they lost two games and drew another two.
The final result in that group of games, a narrow defeat to Brentford in December, reportedly lit a fire under Howe. According to The Athletic, he ripped up his plans for the week and staged direct meetings with individual players.
They were issued with 'stern reminders' of the standards expected, while any players harbouring thoughts about leaving the club were reportedly told 'in brutal terms' to pull their fingers out and knuckle down.
The entire squad also met up to discuss their situation, with the conversation that followed being described as 'unsparing'. The no-holds-barred approach seemingly had the desired impact, with Newcastle's form picking up straight away.
They scored 11 goals in their next three games, brushing aside Leicester City, Ipswich Town and Aston Villa in quick succession. Three more important wins followed with the Magpies only conceding once in the space of those six matches.
Newcastle's season was placed under threat of derailment when Howe was hospitalised with pneumonia in April. He ended up missing three games with Jason Tindall taking charge of the squad on a temporary basis.
Tindall oversaw victories over Manchester United and Crystal Palace in addition to a bruising defeat at the hands of Aston Villa. His short-lived tenure was mostly positive as he ensured the standards remained high despite the difficulty of the situation.
Reflecting on that period, Howe said: "That was where we grew in confidence. We grew in our style, we grew in the knowledge that we were just going to go out and win. It was an unbelievable response from the squad with everything going on around it.
"The players were thinking 'we need reinforcements' and we were losing Miggy [Almiron] and Lloyd [Kelly]. They never used that as an excuse. It was 'okay, it’s happened, let’s just give a bit more'."