Newcastle United head coach Eddie Howe has come under scrutiny following a difficult season in the Premier League for the Magpies and he is set to meet club chiefs next week
Newcastle United boss Eddie Howe will have face-to-face talks with Magpies chiefs next week. Howe is under pressure following a difficult Premier League season but the Toon head coach will be contributing to a board meeting that has long been on the books.
The 48-year-old will participate in a meeting with PIF officials, who are set to jet in from Riyadh, and give his view on performances and future planning as the season nears its end. Chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan will be present for the meeting, as will CEO David Hopkinson, financial chief Simon Capper and stadium boss Brad Miller, according to our sister title Chronicle Live.
Rather than facilitating a vote of confidence in Howe's abilities, the club's new training ground and stadium projects are on the agenda. Several meetings of this type take place throughout the season, with Al-Rumayyan remaining hugely influential at St James' Park.
The 56-year-old PIF governor has attended just a few games this season as the ownership look to empower Hopkinson and the rest of the board to deal with the day-to-day running of the club. For now, their plan appears to be ensuring that Howe and his coaches have everything they need to succeed.
After qualifying for the Champions League last season, Newcastle currently sit in 14th place. They are six points away from qualifying for European football and 11 clear of the relegation zone.
It is understood that Howe retains the support of Newcastle bosses, though all parties acknowledge that football is a results-driven business. Relationships are said to remain strong, and the plan is to provide Howe with time to turn things around.
Newcastle have five games remaining in the Premier League season after reaching the quarter-finals of the Champions League and the Carabao Cup semi-final this season. Games against Arsenal, Brighton, Nottingham Forest, West Ham and Fulham remain as the Magpies look to bounce back from the defeats in a row in the division.
Plans are already being formed for the summer with a pre-season training camp in Europe anticipated rather than a long-haul summer tour to the United States or the Far East. The club do not want to further drain their players after the World Cup in the United States, with fewer commercial opportunities available following the sport's biggest event.
Howe has also admitted he could be open to adding a new coach to his team in the summer. "Yeah, I'm open to anything," Howe told reporters last week.
"I certainly haven't got a fixed mindset or a closed mindset in terms of growth or improvement. In my current backroom there's healthy debate, there's healthy conflict and I think you need that.
"We've got staff that have been hugely successful for me and for us over a long period of time. I think you've got be very careful, in my position, not to throw out good things on the back of an over reaction to a shorter term problem.
"I think those decisions are best made in summer, every summer I'll sit down and think how we can healthily change things. I think change can sometimes be really, really good. I'm very open to anything. Let's see what happens."