Craig Hope hits the nail on the head when addressing the "Howe Out" calls following Man City defeat

Yesterday Newcastle United were dumped out of the FA Cup at the quarter-final stage by defending champions Manchester City.

Just read that last line again and you'll understand why the calls for Eddie Howe's head off the back of that game are ludicrous. Sure, this is something that's been building for a while and it's not just this one result that has that vocal minority piping up again - and let's be clear, it is a minority.

This isn't even the first time parts of our fanbase have lost their heads after being beaten by Pep Guardiola's side. Where's this entitlement come from? Who are we to demand that we beat the world's best club side on their own turf?

We've had one good season since the takeover and now, suddenly, we're demanding a top-four finish and beating the best teams in the world? Calm down. This project is going to take time, we'll get to that point, but it's not going to be a straight line, there are going to be bumps along the way.

Craig Hope is the voice of reason on this one

Speaking after the game for his YouTube channel, Daily Mail journalist Craig Hope summed it up perfectly.

"I feel strongly about this. There was some pretty strong language used against Howe after the game on Monday and I haven't been through it yet tonight but I imagine there will be. There'll be frustration, there'll be anger, but come on, the reason Newcastle are in this position in the first place whereby they're coming to Manchester City in FA Cup quarter finals, whereby there is an expectation to compete, whereby they've had a season in the Champions League, it is because of the manager.

"For me, he's got my support. I think he deserves the support and the understanding of the suppoerters as well."

Hope goes on to say that it's just his opinion and he's not trying to say that everyone should agree with him, and he's right, not everybody should agree, it would be a boring world if we all did.

Take a look at this season and what Howe has had to deal with

But that doesn't mean, those of you who are desperately trying to hound out Eddie Howe shouldn't at least take a step back and look at things objectively. Howe has got us to where we are, this season was always going to be more of a challenge than last with the extra games on the calendar thanks to the Champions League, with Liverpool being back to form after a forgetful season last time out and with expectation being higher.

That's before we take into consideration the 10-month ban handed to our big summer signing, the never-ending injury list which peaked at 14 first-team players out at once, the crippling cup draws, whatever it is that's going on behind the scenes with Dan Ashworth leaving and the disruption that's caused.

Add to that our belief that not making any signings in January was part of a deliberate ploy to accelerate the Premier League into replacing FFP to make things easier for us in the future has obviously affected this season. It's a short-term issue to fix a long-term problem.

Eddie Howe has done well to navigate all of that and still deliver a decent cup run, and we're still in with a shout of a European place too, albeit not a Champions League one. Has he been perfect? Christ, no. We have our issues with him, but we still back him and until there's a huge, unassailable reason not to, we'll continue to do so.