Eddie Howe and Paul Mitchell must end tension in Newcastle’s cold war

Something is not right at Newcastle United. It is a feeling that has been dangling like a loose thread, ready to be tugged, for weeks. The suspicions and doubts that soured the summer are in danger of lingering into the autumn.

The relationship between manager Eddie Howe and sporting director Paul Mitchell has clearly had its problems. There have been arguments – Telegraph Sport revealed as much back in July. The tension remains, but it is concealed below the surface. There is friction, but talk of a civil war was rightly laughed off by Howe on Friday.

At times, the relationship has been strained, but this is largely a historical rather than an ongoing concern. Howe and Mitchell are working together. It is a functional relationship at this stage, nothing more, but that is good enough at the moment.

Neither man has been pushed to breaking point and, certainly on Howe’s part, he is extremely happy to be Newcastle United manager. His family are settled in the area and he only wants to make sure that continues for as long as possible. Sources close to the 46-year-old are adamant he has no interest in replacing Gareth Southgate as England manager at this stage.

In turn, despite a rather clumsy interview last week, Mitchell is full of praise for Howe’s work with the players and the team. He rates him as one of the best coaches in Europe. He wants him to stay and so does chief executive Darren Eales.

Unless results suddenly nosedive, there is no reason to believe Howe will be sacked. There is simply no appetite at boardroom level to do so. That is wise. After all, there would only be one winner in a popularity contest on Tyneside.

Only one winner amid Tyneside tension

Howe is the manager who saved the club from relegation, took them to a first major cup final for 20 years, qualified for the Champions League and secured another top seven finish last season (despite a horrendous injury list) playing an entertaining style of football not seen since the heady days of Kevin Keegan on Tyneside in the 1990s. He is the club’s best and most loved manager since Sir Bobby Robson.

Mitchell is the new sporting director who has been a little brash and abrasive behind the scenes as he tried to stamp his authority. This would be all well and good – and understandable – from a new sporting director with new ideas, but he failed to sign a single player to improve the first team in his first transfer window. The pressure is on him to deliver that in January.

He has played his one get out of jail free card by saying he arrived too late in the summer to influence recruitment, while also blaming the club’s poor scouting network and use of data on the previous regime.

It is, in fairness, far too soon to judge him. But should he cause the departure of Howe, things will turn ugly for both him and Eales – and quickly. History shows you do not sack idolised managers at Newcastle. Just ask Keegan and former owner Mike Ashley.

We are not at that stage and people suggesting otherwise are whipping things up into a situation that does not reflect reality.

For those of us who lived through the various bitter conflicts behind the scenes at Newcastle through the years, this is a rather tame version. It is more cold war than civil war. Howe and Mitchell are not arguing. They are not fighting each other; they are still trying to figure each other out.

They are, as one well-placed source put it this week, “muddling on, determined to get on with things and to work together to keep the club moving forward.”

A slightly frosty, businesslike culture has emerged this summer, led by the corporate beast that is Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, who own a controlling majority stake. That has replaced the all inclusive, one big family and “we are in this together” management style led by former co-owner Amanda Staveley.

Newcastle feels like a colder football club than it was and for a manager of Howe’s emotional and personal make up, that has been hard to process.

But he is willing to adapt, to work with people in the new regime, for as long as he continues to believe there is a collaborative approach to recruitment and other football decisions.

At the moment, there is no evidence he can point to say that it will not be. Neither has he been told by anyone that this is going to change.

The proof will come in the January transfer window and the build up to it. For now, everything else is noise. There is always noise at Newcastle, internally and externally. Howe knows this and will focus on what he can control in the short term; the players and the team. That is all that matters to him and what he is best at.

As long as Mitchell does not try to force players on to him that he does not want, there will be no rift wide enough to cause a schism.

Just in case you needed reminding, Newcastle have made a strong start to the season, are unbeaten, sit fifth in the table and are into the fourth round of the Carabao Cup. The return of matches will be a relief to everyone.

But they need to pursue peace, not war. That takes diplomacy; hopefully taking place in private rather than in press conferences and interviews with the media.