Newcastle United boss Eddie Howe started the season by drawing a line in the sand after surviving a turbulent summer, which meant that the 2024/25 campaign began in earnest with work to do.

It was a ridiculous scenario for a man who steered Newcastle from a near-certain drop in the Championship just two years earlier - and looks even crazier now. But after failing to make Europe with a seventh-place finish, the arrival of sporting director Paul Mitchell and performance chief James Bunce raised questions on the fluidity of the backroom team.

In pre-season, Howe, linked with the vacant England post last July, said from the club's German base: "So, as long as I am happy, feel supported, feel free to work in the way that I want to work, I have not thought of anything else other than Newcastle."

He then went on to talk about "boundaries" but after getting through pre-season, an intense summer window would follow. Only William Osula came through the door at £15million and free transfer Lloyd Kelly arrived through the door to bolster a squad that had already lost Elliot Anderson and Yankuba Minteh.

In the months that have passed, Howe has gone from a figure whose control on transfers, and even the team's style of play, after historic quotes from Mitchell, was being questioned to a manager who can almost walk on water.

Mitchell had said in an older interview with The Athletic: "I like my teams to be a reflection of me; I’d like to say hard-working, a level of humility, controlled aggression, and the potential to add physicality."

But Howe was keen to stress that his staff would maintain their diligent duty of care when selecting tactics. What happens next will be interesting with Howe surely due a spell of picking and choosing some of his own targets.

He got it right with so many before a director of football was even in place, but surely his work with stars he inherited, such as Jacob Murphy, Joelinton, Fabian Schar, and Sean Longstaff, has earned him a rite of passage.

The talk is that a collaborative approach will continue with money to spend from the powers that be and Toon chairman Yasir Al Rumayyan delighted with the job back at St James' Park.

A stern stare from Paul Mitchell didn't make for great viewing at Craven Cottage

The former Monaco supremo stared blankly towards the pitch as Newcastle were beaten 3-1 by Fulham on a humid late summer afternoon. If there had been any doubts over Mitchell and Howe's rapport levels from a cagey pre-season, the former Wigan player did little to cool them down by stating that the club's recruitment policy was "unfit for purpose".

A Press conference confession from Howe........

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