Eddie Howe admits that the Newcastle United project under PIF has slowed and highlighted the Alexander Isak saga as a big blow.
The latest defeat to Sunderland feels like an exciting era at Newcastle United has now ended.
An absolute legend but there’s no coming back from this…
A graphic asking Newcastle United fans to prove the statement: "It is time for Eddie Howe to leave Newcastle United."
Credit: Getty Images/Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA
Indeed, the initial excitement of the PIF era has felt like a thing of the past, pretty much since the minute that Isak decided to push to leave the club not long after they lifted the Carabao Cup and qualified for the Champions League.
It underlined that all is not well at Newcastle. They remain outside of the elite and the spending rules in the current landscape almost certainly mean they will stay there.
Speaking in his post-match press conference after the game, Howe admitted as much.
Howe admits Isak sale was major blow for Newcastle
The Newcastle United manager was asked whether the PIF project had stalled by a reporter towards the end of his press conference.
Howe paused before responding but then said: “I think the rules have made it very difficult for that momentum to go with the speed that it initially did.
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“I don’t know a way that we can beat that system. We have to follow the rules that are set.
Eddie Howe gesutres from the sidelines during Newcastle United's Premier League game against Sunderland.
Photo by Serena Taylor/Newcastle United via Getty Images
“The club desperately want to be ambitious but there’s a limit to what we can spend and that has a knock-on effect on everything that we do and the decisions that we have made previously.
“As I say, to not recruit for that many windows, I don’t know a team that wouldn’t suffer from that.
“We certainly have and then losing Alex last summer was a considerable blow for us.”
Frankly, it’s actually quite nice to hear someone being honest about where this project actually is.
Was selling Isak in the manner they did where the wheels started to come off for PIF at Newcastle?
Quotes from Eddie Howe on Newcastle United losing Alexander Isak. It reads: "Losing Alex was a considerable blow for us."
Credit: Getty Images/Michael Driver/MI News/NurPhoto/Ryan Pierse
Things have stalled, yet supporters are constantly told that plans remain in place to be a world-leading club by 2030.
Being told that does feel like fans are being taken for a ride. How on earth will that be possible without progress on a new stadium or a new training ground?
There was a Newcastle United before PIF and there will be one after. It is broadly fine if Newcastle don’t end up dominating world football under them – so why keep up the pretence that it could actually happen?
No one wants to keep talking about Isak but the manner of his departure is surely now as important a moment as winning the Carabao Cup in the PIF project. Just because it’s a bad memory does not mean it is not defining.
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