Eddie Howe has taken “heart,” from meetings with Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the Newcastle United chairman, this week which has left him convinced that “the ambition, the drive to be successful is still very much there,” from the club’s owners.
Al-Rumayyan, who is also the governor of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), Newcastle’s majority owners, made a rare appearance on Tyneside on Sunday to watch the team’s 4-3 victory over Nottingham Forest.
Al-Rumayyan then held a series of meetings with Newcastle executives in a Northumberland hotel in which bigger-picture club strategy was discussed, including plans to either renovate St James’ Park or move grounds and construct a new training facility.
There has been a note of uncertainty over Newcastle’s future in recent months, in part because of the slow, process-driven nature of PIF’s decision-making process and reports that projects in Saudi have been given prominence over foreign investments.
After struggling to meet the Premier league’s Profit and Sustainability Rules, Newcastle have also failed to directly strengthen their first-team for three consecutive transfer windows. This has increased the pressure on Howe and his players to secure European football this season with little assistance from elsewhere.
“I’ve had various conversations with him,” Howe said in his pre-match press conference ahead of Newcastle’s trip to Liverpool on Wednesday night. “I think a lot’s been discussed at those board meetings, probably not for public consumption. I wasn’t in all of them, but I’m sure (there will be) some positive outcomes and the club will be moving forward.”
Al-Rumayyan became Newcastle chairman in 2021 (Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images)
Crucially, Howe has taken encouragement from those discussions with Al-Rumayyan. “I always take heart from seeing him and talking with him because you see his passion for Newcastle and you see how much he directly cares about everything that’s going on here,” he said. “They were good conversations. He was in good spirits and enjoyed seeing us win.
“I can’t really say anything, but I was very pleased because the ambition, the drive to be successful is still very much there from everyone connected with the club.”
While Newcastle aspire to be a club regularly challenging for Champions League football and for major honours, there is still much work to be done at every level of the club. PIF’s engagement is vital, but it will take more than words; in these terms, Howe’s language was stark.
“If we’re going to catch the teams above us, we’re going to need to drastically improve everything that we’re delivering still,” Howe said. “And that goes right across the board in every department of the football club, because we have so much to do to get to the top.
“It’s not going to happen just by thinking it. It’s not going to happen by willing it. We have to actually deliver it. And that takes money, that takes investment, that takes smart thinking, strategic thinking, which I know is going on at the club, but then we need to implement it all.
“I think just purely in terms of investment and taking the team forward of course we’ve taken a bit of a hit. We understand that and I acknowledge that but it’s through no one’s fault and we have to live in the world of the reality. We know that we want to take the team forward again, we’re desperate to do that, we have ideas to do it and hopefully we can make that happen in the future.
“It may take a bit of time because these clubs that we’re talking about are way ahead of us in terms of their income but that’s all part of the club’s growth.”
GO DEEPER
Judge validates service of legal papers in proposed $70m lawsuit against Newcastle chairman
(Stu Forster/Getty Images)
