Newcastle United chief executive David Hopkinson says he does not have a stance on the future of head coach Eddie Howe, but the club are “not looking to make a change at the moment”.
Although Newcastle reached the last 16 of the Champions League and progressed to the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup for a third time in four seasons, this has been a bruising campaign for Howe’s side.
It has been particularly tough lately. After initially holding their own against Barcelona, Newcastle capitulated at the Nou Camp in mid-March – suffering a 7-2 defeat, before losing 2-1 against bitter rivals Sunderland a few days later.
Howe and his players were booed off by a section of supporters at St James’ Park following the damaging Tyne-Wear derby loss, which has left Newcastle 12th in the Premier League.
But the hierarchy remains behind Howe, who led Newcastle to Champions League qualification in 2023 and 2025, and ended the club’s seven-decade wait to win a major domestic trophy by lifting the EFL Cup last season.
While his backing was hardly unequivocal, this week Hopkinson stressed Newcastle were currently “not having those conversations” about a change of manager.
“I don’t have a stance on his future,” he said. “What I can tell you is that the derby loss hurt.
“We take it seriously. There’s nothing within us that thinks, ‘Well, it’s just three points and on we go’. It has resonated.
“I spent a couple of hours in a one-on-one lunch recently with Eddie and we talked through a multitude of things, including that.
“Eddie is our manager. I expect to have a great run to the end of the season here and we will talk about the future when it’s time.
“Right now, we’re focused on this season’s competition.”
‘Any player under contract is going to leave on our terms’
Newcastle still have seven games to play this season as they bid to make a late push for a European spot.
The club are planning for both eventualities in the transfer market, whether they qualify or miss out.
Howe has been involved in planning for these scenarios alongside sporting director Ross Wilson, with another busy summer on the cards.
Newcastle need to strengthen the ageing spine of the side while there are also doubts surrounding the long-term futures of a number of key players, including midfielder Sandro Tonali.
The Italian effectively has four years left on his contract – if Newcastle trigger a 12-month extension, as expected – which puts the club in a strong position.
But it was just last summer that Newcastle buckled – eventually – and sold top scorer Alexander Isak to Liverpool for a British-record £125m after he went “on strike” to force through a move to Anfield.
Hopkinson was appointed a few weeks after Isak’s exit and felt it was a “good sale” – even if Newcastle have struggled to adapt to life without the striker after spending a combined £124m on forwards Nick Woltemade and Yoane Wissa.
Strategic player trading is clearly going to become a key part of Newcastle’s model moving forward, but Hopkinson warned any individuals seeking a move will not simply get their way.
“If an Isak-like scenario presents itself again, any player under contract is going to leave on our terms,” he said.
“We’re going to maximise the opportunity that might represent for the club.”
Stadium sale and huge gap to bridge
Hopkinson was speaking following the release of the club’s latest set of financial results for the year ending June 2025.
The accounts detail how the sale of the leasehold to St James’ Park and adjacent land to PZ Holdings Limited, a subsidiary company, contributed to the club posting an overall £34.7m profit after tax.
The club insist this was carried out with a view to either redeveloping the stadium or building a new ground, rather than complying with the Premier League’s outgoing profitability and sustainability rules (PSR).
Newcastle’s chief financial officer Simon Capper said: “The motivation was very much to reorganise our property assets and get them into the correct legal boxes to allow us to go forward with our potential development and to facilitate that with financing.”
However, Newcastle could be at risk of breaching Uefa’s rules as they cannot fall back on such deals to comply with the European governing body’s separate regulations.
Chelsea, for instance, were fined last summer for a breach of Uefa’s financial rules.
That followed financial results which included the £200m sale of the Chelsea women’s team to a separate entity within the club’s parent company BlueCo. Chelsea have also sold two hotels to a sister company.
In their financial accounts, Newcastle state they are reviewing the potential outcomes in respect of Uefa’s club licensing and financial sustainability regulations for the period to 30 June, 2025 and are currently in discussions with Uefa on the matter.
Both Newcastle and Uefa have been contacted for comment.
Newcastle ultimately announced club-record revenues of £335.3m, but still have a huge gap to bridge on the status quo.
Liverpool, by comparison, generated £703m in the same period, while Manchester City brought in more in commercial revenue (£340.4m) than Newcastle raised in overall income.
It is a timely reminder of the challenge Newcastle face to somehow realise Hopkinson’s vision of competing for the biggest prizes by 2030.
“When I think about our competitors, they are formidable and they have already got a head start on us, but all they’ve got is a head start on us and we’ve got a tremendous opportunity for growth right in front of us,” he added.
“We’ve used the phrase ‘headroom’ in terms of a player budget, but what I also look at is the commercial opportunity. We have significant headroom to catch up.
“It means we’ve got work harder. We’ve got to work smarter with high conviction and energy every single day to capture that headroom. We’ve got to catch these guys.”
