Failure is an emotive word to use to describe Newcastle United. As one of European football’s great underachievers, it is a word synonymous with far more painful periods in the club’s history.

Nevertheless, that is a word that can be used to describe this transfer window - and is - by frustrated supporters.

The Newcastle board failed manager Eddie Howe by depriving him of the players he wanted to improve his starting XI, leaving him to face a hostile press conference on transfer deadline day, trying to defend the club’s failure to sign England international Marc Guehi – or anyone else – from Crystal Palace after a month-long pursuit.

They failed the club’s supporters, who were led to believe that Newcastle, backed by the wealth of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, were unrelentingly ambitious; with a desire to be, in the words of chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the “number one” club in the country.

Against that framework, this window has been a huge disappointment. Emotions are raw. There have been lots of pledges made, lots of nice words, very little action.

The bottom line is this — Newcastle have not signed any players who are going to give them a better chance of qualifying for Europe again this season, let alone the Champions League.

They have not signed the quality of player who will help persuade the likes of Alexander Isak, Bruno Guimaraes and Anthony Gordon to believe they are going to win things in Newcastle colours. That is a failure given everything that chief executive Darren Eales, Howe and the ownership group have previously said in terms of their objectives.

‘We’ve got to hold our nerve’

A source told Telegraph Sport on Friday that “the biggest mistake people can make is to say we are no longer ambitious, nothing could be further from the truth and we will show that moving forward.

“We were not going to sign players in this window we did not really want, that would have been a huge mistake that would have hurt the club in the short, medium and long-term. Especially in the world of PSR [profitability and sustainability rules]. We’ve got to hold our nerve and do what is right. Not just for this window, but the next ones too.”

That is reassuring to hear, as was more talk of a long-term plan, yet, for the first time since the takeover by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund back in October 2021, momentum has stalled. That is certainly the danger.

That is a delicate thing at a club like Newcastle; an emotional football club; a club that either feeds off the positivity of its supporters or is drained by their negativity.

It has been a thrilling ride up to this point; a joyful journey fuelled by hope, excitement and the flaming of expectations. This was a new Newcastle United, but this summer it has behaved like older, dysfunctional versions.

Targets missed

Newcastle needed a right-sided forward and a centre-back, that was the priority drawn up back in the spring. They knew what they needed to progress the team, to improve and strengthen. They did not sign a player in either position.

Telegraph Sport was told back in June that they missed out on another centre-back, Tosin Adarabioyo, because the wages on offer were too low. The former Fulham defender joined Chelsea on a free transfer instead. Had that transfer happened it would have only left a right-winger to find, with an entire window and a full budget with which to do so.

Newcastle did sign a project striker, William Osula from Sheffield United, but he will be third choice behind Alexander Isak and Callum Wilson. Free-transfer Lloyd Kelly is an upgrade on the departing Paul Dummett. They also brought in two back-up goalkeepers to cover for Nick Pope.

They did not lose any of their best players, which is a bonus, but several, in the words of Howe, have “been unsettled” this summer. They have also had cause to question the direction of travel. Does this remain the same ambitious project that was sold to them when they signed in 2022?

Howe coped admirably with the questions fired at him and is far too diplomatic to throw shade at anyone. He pleaded for unity, instead.

‘We can’t tear ourselves apart’

“I understand the frustration and I share it,” he said. “That’s why I say we are all in this together. From ownership to me to the supporters, we need one united cause and the cause has to be against everybody else that we are playing.

“What we can’t do as a football club is tear ourselves apart, we have to be united now more than ever.”

Nobody would have had a call for unity from the manager on their end-of-window prediction list back in May, but that illustrates where Newcastle and their fanbase are.

Howe’s words were well pitched, but let us not forget that he had control of recruitment taken off him this summer in a boardroom shake-up.

That power was handed to sporting director Paul Mitchell. In the words of chief executive Eales, 90 per cent of Mitchell’s role is recruitment. In his first window, Newcastle have failed to sign a single player who improves the first team.

It is too early to judge Mitchell. He has only been in the job a few weeks, but Telegraph Sport understands it was largely his decision to go all in on Guehi. And it was his call to continue that pursuit right up until the last 48 hours of the window.

Mitchell was adamant he could get the deal done, at the right price and there is a feeling he was played by Palace owner Steve Parish, who seemed to revel in defying Newcastle’s interest in Guehi.

Buck stops with Eales

Eales is also in the firing line. Many felt he won an internal power struggle in the boardroom earlier this year when co-owner Amanda Staveley and her husband Mehrdad Ghodoussi left the club. There would be no more interference from “ministers without a portfolio”, as one observer put it, no matter how well meaning.

But now the buck stops with him. When you are the man at the top, you shoulder the ultimate responsibility when things go wrong.

So, where does this leave Newcastle this season? It should be stressed, they still have a strong team that, as long as there is not the same crippling number of injuries as last season, will be competitive again.  Italy international Sandro Tonali is back after a 10-month ban. Those unsettled by transfer window speculation when they had a sun tan should be more focused and motivated by the time it fades.

However, it would be sensible for a realignment of expectations. Targets need to be realistic. Eales has said it publicly – and Howe has been told – the target is European qualification again, yet all the six teams who finished above Newcastle last season have improved their squads. The teams below them, such as Manchester United, West Ham and Brighton have also strengthened. Another top-eight finish would be excellent in the circumstances.

If you stand still in football you tend to go backwards, but Newcastle have enjoyed an unbeaten start to the season and retained – in a favourite phrase of former manager Sir Bobby Robson – their blue-chip brigade.

Guehi deal to be revisited

They will also have money to spend in January and will almost certainly revisit the Guehi deal when he will have just 18 months left on his Palace contract.

You also sense Howe will be much happier when all the drama of the window is behind him and he can focus on what he does best – coach.

Newcastle exceeded expectations in the first three years since the takeover largely because of him, which is why the Football Association will be watching his situation closely as it waits to fill the vacant England job with a permanent replacement for Gareth Southgate.

Howe has once again, after questioning his emotions back in July, shortly after Mitchell’s appointment and the departure of Staveley, declared he is “happy” at St James’ Park and the relationships with people internally are “working well”.

In the end, as someone pointed out at his press conference on Friday, seasons are not won or lost on the back of a transfer window. Newcastle have had a bad one but that does not automatically equate to a poor campaign. But if things go sour in the months ahead, you already know where the finger of blame will point.