Eddie Howe was asked if Newcastle United’s project has lost its momentum following Sunday’s 2-1 derby defeat to Sunderland at St James’ Park.
When Newcastle became the so-called ‘richest club in the world’ following a PIF-led takeover in October 2021, Sunderland were languishing in League One.
The Magpies have since qualified for the Champions League twice with a Carabao Cup to boot; it’s been a great journey. But that journey has unequivocally derailed this season.
Sunday’s 2-1 Tyne-Wear derby defeat to Sunderland held up a sobering mirror to Newcastle’s project.
Big questions asked of NUFC
A newly-promoted side whose entire squad cost the same as three (pick any three) of Newcastle’s summer signings has done the double and leapfrogged them in the table with seven games to go. With a two-division head start over their rivals and a near half-billion spend later, Newcastle’s project is not just stalling, it’s failing.
Training ground talk has surfaced and gone quiet again, the same for the stadium - several times. Other than minor upgrades and significant squad investment, the ‘takeover to end all takeovers’ has largely failed to deliver off the pitch.
On the pitch, Newcastle head coach Eddie Howe knows clubs live and die by their transfer business. Right now, Newcastle are on life support in that respect.
“I think every transfer window is so, so important,” Howe said. “Unfortunately for us, we've had some difficult windows over the last six.
“We haven't been able to recruit in. Last summer was tough to say the least. That's the hardest transfer window I've ever had.”
Despite splashing out a club-record £250million on new players last summer, Newcastle were also hit with the exit of Alexander Isak to Liverpool for a Premier League record £130million.
“Of course, we don't want to lose momentum in any way,” Howe added. “We want to continue to bring the best players to the football club if we can. We desperately don't want to lose our best players.
“That combination is so important, but it does get harder and harder and more challenging for us because we don't have the revenues of the other clubs.”
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Ambition v reality
The reality is, with Newcastle’s project failing, so is the dream they sold to players when they signed them. 12th in the Premier League is not what they signed up for - but they must still take some share of the responsibility in that respect.
It’s no coincidence that since the turn of the year Sandro Tonali, Bruno Guimaraes, Tino Livramento and Anthony Gordon have all been linked with moves elsewhere. You can doubt the rumours and agendas surrounding them, but there is no smoke without fire.
Howe referenced Newcastle’s last six transfer windows as being ‘tough’, yet the summer is shaping up to be another tough one with uncertainty over key players and real doubts over how the money will be spent after last summer’s fiasco.
It’s also worth noting that after the summer, Newcastle will be just six transfer windows away from 2030 - the year chief executive officer David Hopkinson outlined as when the club would be considered among the best in the world.
Success isn’t a straight line, but Newcastle are spiralling and it’s getting harder to see how the club’s reality can meet its CEO’s ambitions without serious changes.
“I think the rules have made it very difficult for that momentum to go with the speed that it initially did,” Howe said on Newcastle’s project losing momentum.
“I don't know where we can beat that system. We have to follow the rules that are set.
“The club desperately want to be ambitious, but there's a limit to what we can spend. That has a knock-on effect on everything that we do.
“The decisions that we 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.
“Then losing Alex last summer was a considerable blow. Again, we can't feel sorry for ourselves, and we can't use excuses. We have to find a way to be successful despite all of these things.
“But with that, I think there has to be an understanding of the tough conditions that we're in.”
Howe: ‘We have to do better’
Newcastle felt forced to sell two of their top young talents in Yankuba Minteh and Elliot Anderson in the summer of 2024 to comply with Premier League profitability and sustainability rules and avoid a points deduction.
Both players have since flourished at Brighton and Nottingham Forest, respectively, seeing their values soar well beyond what Newcastle sold them for. That situation was of Newcastle’s own making, overspending on the transfer front and under-delivering when it came to revenue, be it commercially or through player sales.
Still, it’s fair to say the rules have shackled Newcastle from breaking into the Premier League’s established elite in the manner they would have hoped when the takeover was approved.
But the club struggling to compete with newly-promoted sides and other clubs with significantly lower budgets, revenue and wage bills cannot be excused, and Howe knows it.
“I don't know how many times I'd like to say that [it’s unacceptable],” Howe responded. “As I said at the start, all we can do is accept the criticism.
“Whatever words you want to use, I'm not going to challenge them. We have to do better.”
Every project, every squad, every manager has a shelf-life. And right now, the expiry date is looming.
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