From Alexander Isak's sale to major transfer misfires: Newcastle's troubled year left Eddie Howe in an impossible situation

Just 10 days after the death of Kevin Keegan, Newcastle have been shaken once more by the news that the man who finished the work of their much-loved former manager is stepping down. After reversing his decision to remain in charge following a nightmare 2025-26 campaign, Eddie Howe departs the Magpies under a cloud with only three weeks left before the new season starts.

Very few would have imagined Howe's celebrated spell at the club ending on a warm pre-season evening. But the manner of Tuesday's dismal 4-1 friendly defeat to Bristol City at Ashton Gate, along with the boos and audible frustration from the sold-out away section, suggested that what looked like an insignificant result could in fact lead to far bigger consequences.

That is exactly how it unfolded, with news emerging the following morning that Howe planned to resign. Significantly, this was not a spur-of-the-moment call, but something he had been considering for a while after first deciding to stay at the end of what had been a hugely disappointing season.

This is the grim end point of a year of unrest at St James' Park, but Howe can walk away with his reputation intact.

Sorry end

This is a sad conclusion to what had otherwise been an exceptional period under Howe, the man who delivered the silverware that Keegan had come so painfully close to winning 30 years ago.

Appointed in 2021 to save Newcastle from relegation when they were 19th in the Premier League, he achieved that aim comfortably before then remarkably taking the club back into the Champions League the very next season.

He repeated that feat in 2024-25, but that season will always be remembered for the Magpies ending their 70-year wait for a major trophy by beating eventual league champions Liverpool in the Carabao Cup final at Wembley - a moment that permanently secured Howe's place in Newcastle folklore.

That long-awaited end to the trophy drought should really have marked a turning point for a club whose relatively new owners, the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF), wanted to challenge for the Premier League title. But the summer of 2025 altered everything.

Miserable market

Set against the backdrop of a desperate and increasingly bitter battle to keep Alexander Isak at Tyneside, which ultimately ended only with the Sweden striker joining Liverpool in a British-record deal on deadline day, Newcastle's approach to last summer's transfer window now looks, at best, unfocused.

Isak was never truly replaced, and the club watched several major attacking targets move instead to rival Premier League sides, including Hugo Ekitike, Benjamin Sesko and Joao Pedro, while the players they eventually signed failed to make the desired impact in their debut season - and the head coach must accept part of the responsibility for that.

Howe played a major role in the club's recruitment planning, but none of Nick Woltemade, Yoane Wissa or Anthony Elanga - who together cost a staggering £180 million ($243m) - have so far done enough to justify those fees because of form and fitness problems.

Striker Wissa scored only once in the league all season, while Woltemade's goals dried up after Christmas. At the same time, £43m midfielder Jacob Ramsey saw his adaptation to his new club disrupted by an ankle injury.

Downturn

There would undoubtedly have been less scrutiny on what proved to be a failed transfer window for Newcastle if matters on the pitch had gone smoothly in 2025-26, but Howe's side completely failed to build on that long-awaited trophy success.

A decent enough start in the league gave way to relegation-level form after the turn of the year, with the Magpies losing 10 of their 16 matches from late January to the end of the season in a worrying slide from sixth to 12th in the table, as boos regularly rang out from the stands.

To make an already miserable campaign worse, their FA Cup run and Carabao Cup defence were both comfortably ended by Manchester City, before their hopes in Europe were emphatically crushed by Barcelona in the Champions League, with the Blaugrana hammering them 8-3 on aggregate in the last 16.

It was late in the season that serious doubts began to emerge over Howe's future. "As tough as it is for Eddie, I don't know what is going to happen with him," club legend Alan Shearer said in April after the defeat to Bournemouth - a third straight loss. "I just think, is he going to want to go again? I don't see Eddie Howe in charge of Newcastle next season, unfortunately. I'm not sure the fight is there."

Exodus

Howe did, of course, initially remain in post with the support of the club hierarchy, but his eventual change of mind has proved Shearer correct as the head coach leaves before the season has even started. There is little doubt that another highly difficult summer transfer window behind the scenes has played a major part in his decision to go.

It had been widely expected that several important players would leave after such a disappointing season, in which Newcastle failed to qualify for any European competition, with Howe himself admitting as much during the run-in when he said there were "some big players maybe entering their final few months" at the club.

He was right. It was still only May when star winger Anthony Gordon sealed a £69m ($92m) move to Barcelona, and standout midfielder Sandro Tonali followed the England international out of the door by joining Tottenham in a blockbuster £100m ($133m) transfer in early July. Kieran Trippier, a hugely influential figure in the dressing room, also left for Wolves when his contract expired.

If those departures had not already badly damaged Howe's desire to continue, Arsenal are now pushing to sign talismanic captain Bruno Guimaraes, who is in turn believed to be interested in a move to north London. It has been reported that the English coach believes the Brazilian will eventually be sold despite Newcastle's public insistence that they will not listen to offers, and that may well have been the final straw for the under-pressure manager.

In a pointed remark after the defeat to Bristol City, he said he could not "control the forces that are at play", adding that "what will be, will be" regarding Bruno's future.

Insuffient incomings

Howe would surely have expected those major incoming funds to be reinvested this summer in proven, like-for-like replacements, but once again Newcastle have missed out on several of their priority targets in the transfer market.

Highly rated Victor Munoz and Johan Manzambi have joined Liverpool and Aston Villa respectively, despite both deals having reached an advanced stage with the Magpies. According to The Telegraph, the failure to complete the latter transfer "tipped Howe over the edge". Manchester City's James Trafford is another player heading elsewhere as Leeds close in, although Newcastle's interest in the goalkeeper may have cooled.

That has led the club's decision-makers to instead focus on costly, relatively untested, high-upside young players such as winger Bazoumana Toure and midfielders Sean Steur and Aladji Bamba, who cost a combined £100.5m ($135m). Reports suggest Howe was notably not involved in those moves.

Saudi uncertainty

All of this has happened amid uncertainty over the future direction of PIF's project in the north east, and the absence of spending on more established elite-level players will add weight to the theory that Newcastle are no longer a top priority.

Much of the club's outgoing transfer business is intended to fund spending and keep the finances balanced as Newcastle continue to deal with the Premier League's Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR). But PIF are also tightening spending because of the Iran war and other economic factors, such as the 2034 World Cup.

In April, club chairman and fund governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan said PIF were reviewing "some deals and investments", including the sale of a huge 70 per cent stake in Saudi Pro League giants Al-Hilal for £276m ($373m). Earlier this summer, the fund also dramatically withdrew support for LIV Golf, the expensive breakaway league launched in 2022 to rival the PGA Tour.

According to a BBC report from April, however, PIF remain "totally committed" to Newcastle and the club will be "unaffected" by this reassessment of priorities. Still, the owners will come under serious scrutiny if they do not alter their approach in the transfer market after Howe's departure.

Club legend

In many respects, this is a mess Howe may be relieved to walk away from, having been placed in an impossible situation.

Despite supposedly leading a club with ambitions of winning the Premier League, he has had to watch his squad be stripped apart over the last 12 months while standards on the pitch have declined, losing his best players at a time when the club should have been consolidating and building on what he had already achieved.

Even so, Howe can leave with his head held high. He will forever be viewed as a club legend after five years in which he made the Toon Army dream again by bringing Champions League football back to Tyneside and delivering that first major trophy in 70 long years.

"Thank you to Eddie for what he's given us," Shearer said after news broke of the coach's impending exit. "He gave me my best day as a Newcastle fan with that day at Wembley. He's given us some incredible nights in the Champions League that we'll never ever forget.

"It's been an incredible ride. I think the job that he did was unbelievable from where he took us when he came, there was a real threat of relegation. He steadied the ship.

"I've been to Wembley as a player and lost. I've been to Wembley as a fan and lost. But I've also had the pleasure of going to Wembley and winning thanks to Eddie. Whatever happens now, the Geordies will always be grateful for what he gave us that day."

There is unlikely to be any ill feeling towards him from the passionate fanbase, who must now head into the unknown under incoming head coach Matthias Jaissle, with a squad that appears badly underprepared for a Premier League campaign with just over three weeks to go before the season starts.