Right now, Eddie Howe and the Newcastle United owners are living in perfect harmony.
The Newcastle boss has done everything that has been asked of him and more. He guided the team to safety when relegation looked inevitable, then took the club to incredible heights last season.
Howe got the Magpies to Wembley for the Carabao Cup final, and was able to finish in the top four and qualify for the Champions League. While that is where the Newcastle owners want to be long-term, no one expected it to happen at the end of Howe’s first full season in charge.
Now Newcastle are preparing for a difficult season, as they look to continue improving whilst juggling the pressure of competing in the Champions League. To do that, they have signed Sandro Tonali, Harvey Barnes and Tino Livramento.
They are all strong signings, but perhaps not the megastar names befitting of a club that want to build on qualifying for the Champions League.
But Howe is doing things his way, and has enough credit in the bank to warrant that opportunity. The players he has signed improve the squad, and will get better under his guidance.
The owners and the manager are clearly aligned right now, but pundit Gary Neville is unsure how long it will last.
Gary Neville wants to know if the Newcastle owners and Eddie Howe are ‘aligned’
Speaking on The Overlap alongside Jamie Carragher and fans of each Premier League club, Neville has asked whether the owners and the manager will continue to go at a gradual pace, or whether or not PIF may change tact in the next few years.
“I think the same as you [Carragher] a little bit with the signings,” he said.
“I hope the owners and the coach are aligned with how they think they’re going to get to the top, because obviously that’s where they want to get to – Premier League champions.
“Are they willing to go slowly all the way through the journey and improve gradually each year where they might even go back a little, or is there going to come a point where they’re going to think we need those big players, we need that big manager.
“Do you think they will continue to be aligned for the next two or three years or do you think it will be a case of at some point they will blink and they will want those £100million signings that Eddie Howe may not want because they might just be a little bit too…they might disrupt the wage bill, the salaries and dynamic in the dressing room.”
Only time will tell for Neville’s question
Neville poses an interesting question, and it is one we will not know the answer to for a few years.
For now, it looks like the owners are happy to progress gradually. That type of sustained development is easier to maintain and will set the club up for a longer spell of success.
Financially, the owners have the power to go out and spend crazy amounts of cash on top players, but it could backfire.
That is why they are being careful, and are entrusting Howe to get the right players to fit his team and thrive at St James’ Park.
Hopefully the alignment between the owners and Howe continues for a long time, because what Toon fans are experiencing right now is very special.
Receive a digest of our best Newcastle content each week direct to your mailbox
