Newcastle United stance on Eddie Howe crystal clear as Jose Mourinho talk trashed

Newcastle United chiefs are delighted with the work of Eddie Howe and have no intention of changing manager.

As the Newcastle fanbase deemed links with Jose Mourinho as "mischievous" on Friday afternoon, there was a certain irony in the air as United staff prepare to head to Saudi Arabia for a warm weather training camp and an invitation for Howe and his squad to enjoy a week of first class facilities in the Middle East sunshine.

Newcastle don't need to dismiss any stories on the manager's future because they are happy with his performance and Howe is fully committed to the task in hand.

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PIF chief Yasir Al-Rumayyan is believed to be delighted with the work of Howe and the head coach has "strong relationships" with the Toon chairman, sporting director Paul Mitchell and performance director James Bunce. What has been noted is Howe could become the first manager to lead Newcastle to three consecutive top half finishes for the first time since Sir Bobby Robson this season.

Given Newcastle reached their third successive Carabao Cup quarter-final last week and still have the FA Cup to play for, talk of managerial change has been met by mystified responses at St James' Park.

Howe will be in Saudi Arabia next week and will be the face of Newcastle as they prepare for a series of events with fans in Riyadh and to tie up with sponsors Adidas and Sela. As reported by Chronicle Live two weeks ago, Newcastle have no plans to change manager any time soon.

Despite a poor run of Premier League form, Howe roared back with a big Carabao Cup victory over Chelsea then a narrow win over Arsenal to underline his credentials. His 48% win ratio as boss is second only at Newcastle to the great Kevin Keegan - but he could still eclipse the Messiah this season by winning a piece of silverware.

Reports emerged on Friday that Jose Mourinho - currently contracted to Turkish side Fenerbahce - wanted a return to the Premier League with Newcastle his targeted job. However, even while the ex-Chelsea boss was available last season, Newcastle did not make an approach and stuck with Howe.

Howe remained on board despite changes in the football department with sporting director Paul Mitchell coming through the door and performance director James Bunce.

Howe said only today: "It feels good to still be here. I’m so pleased with how it’s going, so pleased to be in this position and still dreaming. I’m happy with the progress but you always want more and we haven’t got the one thing we wanted when we came in which was a trophy.

"That was the dream, that’s still the dream and still driving us. We believe we can achieve extraordinary things and that’s the focal point driving us every day. Qualifying for Europe again is one of our aims this season."