Newcastle: ‘Unhappy’ PIF’s ‘stance’ on Howe sack revealed; owners tipped to appoint manager with 5 Champions League Trophies won
According to reports, Newcastle United’s owners are ‘unhappy’ after they exited the Champions League and Eddie Howe is ‘not guaranteed’ to remain in charge.
Howe has earned a lot of plaudits over the past couple of seasons after he was chosen by PIF to lead Newcastle into a new era.
After successfully guiding the Magpies to Premier League safety in 2021/22, Howe’s side mounted a surprising challenge for the Champions League places last term and they edged out Liverpool to finish fourth.
Newcastle were drawn in a group of death ahead of their Champions League return with games against AC Milan, Borussia Dortmund and PSG lined up.
The English side had a chance of qualifying for the knockout stages heading into the final round of fixtures but their 2-1 loss to AC Milan on Wednesday night saw them finish bottom of their group.
Newcastle remain in the Carabao Cup but they can now focus on the Premier League. They are currently seven points adrift of the Champions League places in seventh.
Howe was not thought to be under pressure following their Champions League exit, but Football Insider are reporting that the ex-Bournemouth boss is ‘not guaranteed to remain at Newcastle United next season if the team continues to implode’.
It feels a bit soon to suggest Newcastle are ‘imploding’, but the report adds ‘there is more pressure on Howe than many expect and that PIF do not share the view of the vast majority of the fanbase that the team has been punching well above their weight’.
‘Sources say that the owners are unhappy to have crashed out of the Champions League in midweek’ and ‘they “expect results” from Howe and his coaching staff’.
It’s recently been suggested that Newcastle’s owners are ‘charmed’ by AS Roma boss Jose Mourinho and Stan Collymore thinks his arrival at St James’ Park would be the ‘win-win situation for everyone’.
“Jose Mourinho makes the most sense to take over as the next manager of Newcastle. Fans of the club love Eddie Howe but the more that I think about it it makes even more sense,” Collymore told Caught Offside.
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“The Portuguese coach has a great relationship with Sir Bobby Robson, he has always talked fondly about Newcastle and most importantly, he is represented by Jorge Mendes. The superagent has a lot of players in the Saudi Pro League and there is a situation there for the Saudis where they are getting two or three things for the price of one.
“They get a big-named manager for Newcastle who can lure quality players and has had success at the highest level; he spends around two years at Newcastle and then heads off to the Saudi league, a country where he recently said he will work someday; Mendes then banks on both ends so it turns into a scenario where Mourinho, the Saudis, Newcastle and Mendes all win.
“I retweeted it the other day, this tweet from a Newcastle fan who said ‘It is not going to be long before Mourinho’s name starts getting mentioned around the manager’s job at St James’ Park’ because of the Magpies form and I think at present, we are not a million miles away from that.
“Newcastle fans might not want him because of the style of football but if you are the head of PIF, it makes a lot of sense.”
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