At some clubs Eddie Howe would not have got another chance.
Whatever mitigation there is for Newcastle United’s disappointing season, that is the stark truth.
“Unacceptable” is how one source described it and that is not an unfair description of a campaign where a black and white storm descended on St James’ Park.
Problems that had been brewing for a while – Howe’s recruitment and retention preferences colliding with financial restrictions to produce a squad that was both stale in some parts and unsettled by new arrivals with the wrong profile in others – combined with new issues like fan discontent and a resurgent rival in Sunderland to leave a sense that the project has stalled.
Behind the scenes they would dispute that. Sporting director Ross Wilson’s impact has won almost universal praise from those who have witnessed his work and he has worked hard at knocking down some of the silos that created the problems in the first place.
