Divided Newcastle risk throwing away Eddie Howe, the one person they can’t afford to lose, writes RIATH Al-SAMARRAI… the club need to trust him, not keep diminishing his power

In 122 AD, Emperor Hadrian began building a wall on Tyneside and his spirits would have been lifted to know that all was not lost in the following 1,902 years. The practices of ancient Rome seem to be alive and thriving at Newcastle United.

These are strange times indeed at St James’ Park, where backstabbing and bottom-covering are performed with no shortage of enthusiasm. Subtlety? Apparently that’s an area where they can still grow.

You will have noticed Paul Mitchell’s comments this week. He is of course their new sporting director.

Good for him for talking — men in his position usually prefer the shadows. Public speaking and accountability, less so. But Mitchell went unconventional by hastily calling a press conference at a time when the quality of his work was under scrutiny.

Whether that was wise remains to be seen, but he certainly had a lot to say, especially about his relationship with Eddie Howe and a bad summer on the job market, which has only increased uncertainty about his willingness to remain in office.

During this conversation, Mitchell also slid something sharp between the shoulder blades of those who had done the same work before him.

The previous system was not fit for purpose, he said. Not enough scouting. Not enough data used. Not selling players well enough to move at full speed into the Profit and Sustainability era.

It all rang true to a certain extent, to those who follow Newcastle closely. But it was remarkably optimistic for someone who had just bagged a duck in his first transfer window at the club.

And all the more so given the track record of those he pointed his finger at: the recruitment model he criticised was inherited from his predecessor, Dan Ashworth, and leaned more favourably on the vision of Howe, in partnership with two former co-owners, Amanda Staveley and Mehrdad Ghodoussi.

As a group, they may have been a little surprised to get a rough assessment. As an individual, Howe may have felt justified in looking at the new way, which has given him less influence, and believing that the old way was better.

He would also have sufficient evidence to support his claims.

In the time since the Saudis arrived on Tyneside three years ago, five windows without Mitchell and one with him, Newcastle had not done much wrong in the market until this summer. In fact, few had done it so well.

Kieran Trippier, Nick Pope and Dan Burn were aged between 31 and 29 but cost just £35m between them and have made over 250 appearances for the club. Strong signings at a key time, those.

Bruno Guimaraes was 24 when he arrived for £40m so there was a bit of a threat but now Manchester City have their eyes on him and he is Howe’s captain. Alexander Isak was £63m and is now valued at nine figures. Anthony Gordon is a very good young player, as is Sven Botman.

If Sandro Tonali continues to show a level of quality after the gambling mess he himself created, it will be difficult to find a single outright failure among those who came for a significant sum.

That Newcastle sailed close to the PSR wind is not unique for a club with high expectations. Their rise up the table and reaching the Wembley final was a clear endorsement of their approach.

As for Mitchell, he failed to hit his one big target this summer, Crystal Palace’s Marc Guehi. In short — one window, one walk down the garden path and a slightly defensive suggestion that he was merely playing a ‘supporting’ role in the machine, given he had only been in the job for a few months.

If that were a plea for time and understanding from a sporting director, there would surely be a few managers in the country who would laugh a little at the irony.

Speaking to people who have worked with Mitchell before, you get a picture of an astute and organised player, someone who was highly regarded by Mauricio Pochettino at Tottenham.

But the hint of desperation in his comments this week has added to the existing sense of storm at Newcastle, heightening the feeling that they are at risk of losing the one figure they desperately need: Howe.

Thanks to the fantastic journalism of Craig Hope in these pages, so much has been revealed about the internal turmoil within the club and how it has affected the position of their head coach.

Much of that reporting focused on the sudden departures of Staveley and Ghodoussi in July, when multiple sources attributed the loss of two popular faces to tensions in the boardroom.

Darren Eales, the CEO, is said to have reported back to the Saudis that the two had become too involved in the day-to-day running of the business and that this had become a hindrance, effectively removing two of Howe’s key allies.

That doesn’t sound very nice and Howe almost immediately referred to his discomfort during Newcastle’s pre-season tour of Germany.

Of course, it was another aspect of his timing that attracted attention, with Gareth Southgate having resigned as England manager two days earlier. Howe’s comments spread like wildfire and he is old enough to know exactly what that would look like.

His desire for that job is well known, as is the FA who have long had an interest in him.

He has been mentioned in discussions about their successor for some time, ever since his time at Bournemouth. It is thought that Lee Carsley’s trial period was partly designed around the possibility that Howe would become available without having to pay his club.

For the Newcastle suits, it is clear that a manager who has led them from 19th place to the Champions League is worth celebrating, doubly so for a club so popular with supporters.

Instead of giving the impression that there is division within the club, they should do better to follow his suggestions.

If that doesn’t work, build a wall around him. Otherwise it would be like stabbing them in their own back.

Golf’s mega-revenues are unsustainable

Scottie Scheffler’s victory at the Tour Championship last weekend produced astonishing numbers.

The win added £19 million to his bankroll, taking his seasonal earnings to £47.4 million. This is broken down into £9,282 for every shot he hits in 2024 and £631,370 for every tournament he plays in.

There is no doubt that he is by far the best player in the world. But it is equally true that golf has gone mad with these unsustainable prize moneys at a time when TV audiences are rapidly declining.

The harder they blow up this ridiculous balloon, the louder the bang will be when it finally pops.

No false dawn for Draper

Sport has a remarkable ability to provide new fascinations just as the old ones fade from view. In the case of Andy Murray’s successor in the British tennis line, Jack Draper still has a long way to go, but he has made a pretty spectacular change at the US Open.

There is nothing in his playing that points to a false start.