“The club will be OK.” This was Eddie Howe talking on Saturday afternoon, using words distant from the stuff of dreams — from winning everything and being best in class — but it was a sentiment that felt desperately important, too. A summer of uncertainty for the forever intoxicating, restless institution that is Newcastle United will now stretch into the autumn, but they have craved this reassurance of ‘being OK’, on and off the pitch.
Advertisement Being OK meant trading punches with Manchester City , the finest side in the land. In the context of this season — decent results, some ropey performances — it meant a return of the high-pressing, high-octane style that Howe’s Newcastle became synonymous with. It brought relief; they still have it in their locker.
In the context of the bigger picture, it means navigating the blur of change that has suddenly swept through St James’ Park, leaving the edifice trembling. Since July, Dan Ashworth has left as sporting director, Paul Mitchell has arrived as his replacement, Amanda Staveley and Mehrdad Ghodoussi, the driving forces behind Newcastle’s takeover three years ago, have stepped away and now Darren Eales, the chief executive, is going too. Factor in a transfer window that mutated from a dash to raise funds into a failure to spend them in a meaningful fashion and it risked the kind of instability that football loathes.
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