Howe going as spending rules bite - troubles for Newcastle's Saudi owners
Howe going as spending rules bite - troubles for Newcastle's Saudi owners
Newcastle's Saudi Arabian owners brought in Eddie Howe in November 2021
- Published
Seven months ago, Newcastle United's chief executive David Hopkinson said he could put them "in the debate about being the top club in the world" by 2030.
Right now, that ambition looks a long way off.
The departure of manager Eddie Howe on Thursday, and reported appointment of Matthias Jaissle, is the result of a poor Premier League season, where Newcastle finished 12th, and an uninspiring transfer window.
The latter is in no small part down to the club's need to sell players to generate income and so be able to spend more.
But does this latest development point to a bigger issue?
Newcastle have let go some of their biggest players in Anthony Gordon and Sandro Tonali while captain Bruno Guimaraes is also rumoured to be on his way out. That follows the £125m sale of striker Alexander Isak to Liverpool last September.
Transfers the other way have not exactly been flooding in either, with Newcastle missing out on Swiss midfielder Johan Manzambi to Aston Villa and Spanish winger Victor Munoz to Liverpool.
Newcastle's Saudi Arabia-backed takeover in 2021 - by the Public Investment Fund (PIF) - was supposed to lead to them becoming one of the world's top clubs.
But recent actions have raised questions about whether they are running out of steam.
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Where did it all go wrong for Howe?
Howe ended Newcastle's 70-year wait for a domestic trophy when his side won the Carabao Cup last year.
But rumours about the 48-year-old's departure have been circulating since the beginning of this year, when Newcastle sat 13th in the Premier League and securing Champions League football for next season was already starting to look highly unlikely.
That was exacerbated further in March when the Magpies were struck by a late Sunderland comeback in the Tyne-Wear derby, losing 2-1 at St James' Park, to extend their dismal league record against their local rivals to 15 years without victory.
They also went out of the FA Cup in the fifth round, exited the Champions League in the last 16 and made it to the semi-finals of the EFL Cup only to be beaten 5-1 by Manchester City over two legs.
Despite that, Howe's four-and-a-half-year stint as Newcastle boss will be looked back on fondly by Newcastle fans.
What supporters will perhaps be most perplexed by is the timing of Howe's departure.
The former Bournemouth boss could have left at the end of the season and would probably have been given a positive send off by fans.
Indeed, BBC Sport understands potential replacements for Howe were sounded out in July, including Kieran McKenna.
Instead, Howe got partway through pre-season before making his decision, the difficulties of building a squad he is happy with having become too much.
Although he understood the situation - saying in March "there's a limit to what we can spend" despite the ambition of the club - it is understood he communicated his intent to leave two weeks ago.
Selling three of your best players in the space of one year - Isak to Liverpool last summer and this year Gordon at Barcelona and Tonali to Tottenham - with another one possibly on the way in Guimaraes, is perhaps not conducive to becoming a top club.
Former Newcastle defender Steve Howey told BBC Radio Newcastle: "I'm shocked but at the same time kind of not.
"Eddie for a long time has basically had to put fires out. You are losing your best players.
"You can understand the frustration with him when he's trying to build something but you're having that semi-taken away losing your best players. It's always going to be difficult.
"You can understand his frustration."
Is Saudi Arabia backing running out of steam?
So what are the rules that Newcastle have, at times, come close to breaking?
From the beginning of the PIF takeover, Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR) have put the brakes on Newcastle's ambitions to spend.
Just because a club has wealthy owners does not mean they can spend big in the transfer windows.
After buying the club in 2021, PIF spent £404.7m in the first three years. But by bringing in only £50.4m from sales, Newcastle saw the stark reality of PSR hit home in 2024.
That led to them having to sell homegrown talent Elliot Anderson to Nottingham Forest and has snowballed since, with important players being offloaded every season.
The Magpies welcomed the new Financial Fair Play rules - the Squad Cost Ratio (SCR), which are now in effect - and, in short, mean the more you generate, the more you can spend.
But, when analysing their spending power against that of other Premier League clubs, Swiss Ramble, external found that the Magpies' SCR budget ranked ninth (£243m) in the Premier League.
On top of that, in April the PIF withdrew its multibillion dollar backing of LIV Golf after Yasir Al-Rumayyan - the fund's governor and chairman of Newcastle - confirmed the PIF was reviewing its deals and investments.
In turn, questions were raised about what that meant for the future of Newcastle - but senior club figures were informed at the time that the pullout did not affect the club. The fund is still viewed as being engaged.
In the club's most recent set of accounts from last season, Newcastle's revenues have more than doubled to £335.3m - from the £140.2m recorded in the final full campaign of Mike Ashley's ownership.
There are also plans for a new state-of-the-art training ground while Hopkinson has outlined a desire to revamp St James' Park or move stadiums to increase matchday revenue.
The potential appointment of former RB Salzburg boss Jaissle is also intriguing given he is currently in charge of Saudi Arabian side Al-Ahli - a club the PIF held a majority stake in until selling it in April.
Newcastle asked Howe to reconsider
It is understood that Howe communicated his intention to leave to the Newcastle hierarchy around a fortnight ago.
Newcastle initially asked him to reconsider to continue leading the club into next season.
Eventually, though, Newcastle accepted Howe's wishes but asked him to stay as they identified his replacement - a request the coach accepted.
Plenty has been made about the club's transfer policy this summer.
BBC Sport outlined in April how Newcastle would need to sell at least one of their top players during the current transfer window to comply with financial regulations.
Indeed, Howe leaves amid a backdrop of high-profile departures and in terms of incomings, Newcastle are going for younger, unproven talents – with the likes of relatively unknown Bazoumana Traore and Aladji Bamba arriving.
But while it is BBC Sport's understanding that the transfer strategy has prompted concern at how the squad is shaping up for next season and how competitive it may be, it is claimed that alone is not the only factor in Howe's decision to quit, and that the split between both parties is amicable.
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