Newcastle owners' stance on SACKING Eddie Howe as Sunderland loss sparks inquest - The Mirror

Newcastle United boss Eddie Howe retains board support despite painful 1-0 defeat to rivals Sunderland as owners refuse to be swayed by online pressure

Newcastle United bosses will allow Eddie Howe and his coaching staff to work through some of the underlying problems that are threatening to derail their season.

The 1-0 defeat to rivals Sunderland triggered an immediate social media backlash on Sunday afternoon, with certain supporters growing restless with the current manager. Yet CEO David Hopkinson and sporting director Ross Wilson won't be influenced by online opinions on the manager's future, reports Chronicle Live.

Instead, Newcastle's hierarchy will seek a "response, not a reaction" to the painful loss against the Black Cats. Should a crushing loss to Sunderland be set aside - no mean feat on Tyneside under any circumstances - the boardroom is attempting to focus on the broader perspective.

Champions League and Carabao Cup progression, alongside the hectic sequence of Premier League fixtures, still present opportunities for a turnaround this season with Newcastle languishing in 12th position. Hopkinson will be tasked with steering PIF and chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan through this period.

However, PIF didn't pump nearly £500m into the club to find themselves in the Premier League's lower reaches. The PIF stance has been that Howe remains the right person to spearhead the project, and whilst there will be setbacks along the way, his Carabao Cup triumph and pair of Champions League qualifications have earned him goodwill.

This campaign has seen some worrying losses though, including defeats against West Ham, Brentford and most recently Sunderland. One major worry is that the Howe squad who previously declared: "Intensity is our identity" have disappeared without trace.

Howe confessed following the match that sitting back was part of their strategy. He explained: "Our plan in the first half was to be solid and compact.

"Not necessarily to play on the counter-attack on the counter-attack, that would have been a byproduct of that. We certainly wanted to be dominant on the ball, but that didn't happen. Technically, we weren't good enough.

"The second half changed and we wanted to be more aggressive and on the front-foot. We'd conceded by the time there was any passages of play, that was a frustration. The pressure changed when we were 1-0 down. We were a little more free and a better version of ourselves."

Howe referenced "fatigue" in the display afterwards, though refused to use it as justification. However, for the moment it's back to square one for Howe and his coaching team.

Newcastle face no genuine relegation danger and remain just four points away from the top five. Howe will be first to acknowledge that enhancements are required, and that will be his communication to those in charge.

The sentiment is that he'll receive plenty of time to reverse the situation. But there's a shared understanding at both the training ground and in the boardroom that things aren't as they should be.

However, there's also a sense of patience, coupled with the opportunity to bring in fresh talent when the transfer window opens in a fortnight.

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