Newcastle has plunged into its most challenging period since the club was bought by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund five years ago.
And its under-pressure manager knows it.
“I’m aware of the results and they aren’t good enough,” Eddie Howe said after a 2-1 home loss to Bournemouth on Saturday, which marked a third straight defeat in the Premier League for Newcastle and a seventh in the last 11 games in all competitions.
Newcastle received boos at full time and the team is languishing in 14th place in the 20-team top flight with five games remaining of the campaign.
Howe — hired in November 2021, weeks after the takeover by Saudi’s Public Investment Fund — has been popular with the Newcastle fans after qualifying for the Champions League in two of the last three seasons. But support might be starting to turn. Last month, the club did not give any assurances he’ll be in charge beyond this season.
“My belief in myself can’t waver, and it’s not,” said Howe, who acknowledged his team had become too easy to beat in recent matches. “At this moment of time, I feel very flat.”
Indeed, these are tough times for PIF, which in recent years has spent heavily investing on sporting projects such as LIV Golf and funding the biggest soccer teams in Saudi Arabia.
This week, PIF sold its majority stake in the kingdom’s most successful club, Al-Hilal, and there was also huge speculation about whether the fund was on the brink of cutting its financial backing of LIV. LIV’s 2026 season is going ahead as scheduled, its chief executive said, but the situation beyond that remains cloudy.
Truffert scores late winner
At St. James’ Park, Adrien Truffert broke a tie in the 85th minute with his first Premier League goal to win the game for eighth-place Bournemouth, which is unbeaten in 13 straight league matches — including six wins.
Marcus Tavernier turned in Rayan’s cross across the goalmouth in the 32nd minute to put the Cherries ahead. Will Osula equalized in the 68th minute after an initial offside call was overturned in a video review.
Newcastle captain Bruno Guimarães entered in the 62nd minute after recovering from a hamstring injury that had sidelined him since Feb. 10.
Howe said he sees “total commitment” in his squad but hesitated when answering whether he believed his players have the same fire that he had.
“I believe they do,” he eventually replied, “and, as I say, from what I see in the training ground, I don’t see any sense of poor attitude or poor commitment to their work. … If I I did, I would make the adjustments.”
___
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
