Pundits sound Newcastle United coach alarm after dispiriting transfer window for Eddie Howe

Newcastle United have been warned that they risk losing Eddie Howe if they don’t give him the necessary support to take the club forward as a playing unit.

Former Man Utd fullback Gary Neville believes that Newcastle have been surprisingly circumspect in their spending since the Saudi Arabian PIF took over the club.

However, he believes that further investment is required to build a squad that Howe can guide to success.

Neville warned that spending isn’t always a recipe for success but added that efforts should be made to give Howe the resources to mount a top four challenge.

“I think what they’ve actually done in that first couple of years is build a really good foundation and they’ve been measured,” Neville said on Sky Sports Super Sunday.

“I think we’ve all, to be fair, said that they’ve gone really well. We expected them to come in and be flamboyant, maybe a little bit eccentric. We’ve seen what Chelsea have done with all that money.

“Newcastle have been measured and I think they’ve done a really good job. I think just listening to Eddie there in his interview, I would suggest that he feels disappointed by what’s happened in the last few months.

“To be honest with you, I don’t think you need to be a rocket scientist to work out he should be disappointed. They should have got better players in for them having lost the players that they’ve lost. I think now it’s on that crossroads moment that was always going to come a couple of years in. What do you do next?

“How do you then take it on to that next level? How do you support Eddie Howe to get to where he needs to get to? It’s a very challenging moment that we’re about to embark upon?”

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Newcastle’s money came at the wrong time

Former Liverpool star Jamie Carragher added that Newcastle were unlucky that their new owners have come in at a time when transfer business has been complicated by new sustainability rules.

He feels that Howe’s squad isn’t any weaker than it has been because they have managed to keep hold of most of their top stars.

“It’s much of a muchness. What they will say is they haven’t lost any big players. You go back to them coming in, going for the biggest trophies. I feel for Newcastle in a sense that this money has almost come at the wrong time. The rules now of Financial Fair Play, it doesn’t matter how much money you’ve got, it’s what you’re bringing into your club. They’re trying to build that up through sponsorships,” Carragher said.

“If we’re being totally honest, they may have to sell one of their biggest players for £100million to £120million and go again. They might have to do that for two or three years before they can bring that revenue in to keep bringing in better players at maybe lesser brices, like what they’ve done with Guimaraes, with Isak, with Gordon.

“I wasn’t worried about Newcastle. Lets talk about them getting all the money and getting trophies, I’m not sure you can right now. You can argue with the rules and how they’re set up, but I think a bigger problem for them, if they get beat today and they go into the international break, there’ll be a lot of negativity. There’s a lot of pressure from supporters on Darren Eales the CEO, on Paul Mitchell the sporting director as well. They’ve got to be very careful they don’t lose Eddie Howe.

“Eddie Howe is the number one person, I think in most people’s eyes, for the England job. If he’s not happy, he’s going to go to the England job. He will.”

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