Eddie Howe: Newcastle’s league dream still alive but will take longer to achieve

Eddie Howe has insisted Newcastle’s “dream” remains alive despite a hugely frustrating summer – but has warned success will take “a lot, lot longer” to achieve.

When Amanda Staveley completed her takeover at St James’ Park in October 2021, she spoke of the club winning the Premier league within a five to 10-year period while Yasir Al-Rumayyan, club chairman and governor of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, signalled his intention to establish it as “number one”.

Efforts to strengthen this summer, which have been hampered by profitability and sustainability rules, have so far come to nothing, with Crystal Palace’s England defender Marc Guehi remaining stubbornly beyond their grasp as the transfer window entered its final 24 hours.

However, asked if the club’s fans had been sold a false dream, head coach Howe said: “I don’t think the dream dies, necessarily, but I think it takes a lot longer.

“We’ve got to build our revenue streams, that is the biggest thing. We’ve got to bring more money into the football club however we do that, through player sales, through sponsorship, through loads of various things. That’s the big thing that we need to focus on now for the next, probably, 10 years.

“Whether I’m lucky enough to see any of that, who knows? But the dream is not over, it’s just going to take a lot, lot longer.”

Newcastle’s owners have invested more than £400million in the squad since their arrival on Tyneside, but have made just one major signing – £55million Italy midfielder Sandro Tonali, who could make his first Premier League appearance since October against Tottenham on Sunday after completing a 10-month ban for betting offences – in the last three windows.

A summer during which Staveley and husband Mehrdad Ghodoussi have left the club has proved challenging to say the least, with midfielder Elliot Anderson and frontman Yankuba Minteh having departed in a bid to comply with PSR limits amid speculation over the futures of big names Bruno Guimaraes, Alexander Isak and Anthony Gordon.

The club’s pursuit of Guehi has developed into something of a saga, but with just hours of the window remaining, Howe, who has studiously avoided commenting on individual players throughout, remained pragmatic.

He said: “We’ve got to try to hit it right and if we don’t, then probably doing nothing, as frustrating as that is, is probably the best option.”

That may cut little ice with fans who had hoped the rebuilding programme would continue apace this summer after last season’s seventh-place finish, 12 months after the Magpies had secured a top-four spot and Champions League football.

Asked if the club had “failed” this summer, Howe, who denied suggestions they had placed all their eggs in one basket with Guehi, replied: “I’m not going to sit here and say it’s been a brilliant transfer window for us. I think everyone will look at me and think, ‘I’m not sure he’s telling the truth there’. I do try as far as I can to tell the truth.

“But it’s not been through the want of trying from anybody’s perspective and I think for me to sit here and say that would be totally wrong as well. Everyone has tried really, really hard to improve the squad to make sure we’ve got a chance of success.”