Darren Bent shares the only thing which could get Eddie Howe sacked at Newcastle this season

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Darren Bent has shared what he thinks is the only thing Eddie Howe could do to be sacked by Newcastle United this season.

Howe has been under increasing pressure from the media for underperforming after last year’s Champions League success, but the message from the owners is that they are fully backing him.

Speaking on talkSPORT, Bent claimed that the one thing Howe could do to be sacked is exit the FA Cup in the quarter final and ‘fall off a cliff’ in the Premier League by finishing in the bottom half.

Bent thinks Howe’s job at Newcastle is safe

Howe has stored up a lot of credit in the bank from last season thanks to Newcastle finishing in the top four and making their first trip to Wembley in over two decades in the Carabao Cup.

The owners also appreciate that this campaign has been a difficult one with injuries and a bit more of a learning curve given that Howe and most of his players had never played in Europe before.

It does take some getting used to, especially when you’ve got a never-ending list of injuries, but the worst is now over and they’ve got a chance to enjoy a big finish to the season now.

Bent believes that despite the club’s early exit from Europe and poor form domestically, the fans are still fully on board with Howe and that he’ll only be in real trouble if things go drastically wrong in these next 12 league games.

On the show, Bent said: “I think the fans are behind him 100%. I think they realise what he’s done, they all understand that he’s ahead of schedule from where they thought he would be.

“He got them Champions League last season, but with that expectation grows. Maybe from the fans it’s alright it’s fine we’re building, but from the owners they’ve had a taste of Champions League they want more of it.

“If they don’t win the FA Cup which I don’t think they will and they finish 10^th I think the owners will look and think are we moving forwards?

“I still think their squad is progressing, they’ve got to balance the books, but I do think the owners will look at it and think do we make a change.

“I think he’s safe unless they fall off a cliff and finish bottom half of the table. The fans are behind him anyway.”

Howe has a very big summer ahead of him

After last season’s disappointment where Newcastle signed four players and none of them have been able to have a big impact on the campaign, Howe has to get this next transfer window spot on.

By then they should have hired a new director to help them out with the negotiations, but you’d still expect Howe to have a big say on who he wants to bring into the squad for next season.

The likes of Lewis Hall and Tino Livramento look like top prospects for the future but neither are being utilised by Howe and he needs to make sure he’s bringing in players for the now this summer.

The hope is obviously that they will have significantly more to spend than they did in January, but ultimately they may have to sell one or two to really improve the squad for the long term.