Eddie Howe for the sack? One thing to note about those reports

Newcastle United fans are undoubtedly an unhappy bunch right now after a run of poor results and dropping out of two competitions.

If we're being brutally honest, it's not so much the results as it is the performances that have led to them. Our last two games saw us beaten comprehensively by relegation-threatened sides. That should not be happening to a side that finished fourth last year.

As you'd expect there's a lot of talk in the media about Eddie Howe being under pressure and facing the sack, but the thing to note here is that the vast majority of those reports are coming from mainstream media or outlets detached from the club.

There will always be fans who shout about sacking the manager

Of course, there are fans calling for Eddie's head, they were there shouting for him to go after he saved us from relegation. You always get a vocal minority who just like to spout controversial things for clout online and those who think a few defeats is all it should take for a manager to get the chop.

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Fans hounded out Sir Bobby Robson after a run of poor form and that bit us in the arse. It wasn't until Eddie Howe came in that we got anywhere near the highs of the Bobby Robson era again, all because we were too reactionary when things weren't going our way.

This season was always going to be difficult. Our first foray back into the Champions League after 20 years with a squad that wasn't capable of sustaining that challenge. We over-achieved last season and FFP meant we couldn't get in enough players to catch up to where we'd found ourselves.

Then you add the bad luck on top of all of that: We fork out £55million for a new midfielder and he gets banned for the entire season while all around him the team is literally falling apart, backs are breaking, arms are falling out of sockets, and we're down to the same eleven players who have to play three times a week.

Eddie Howe can't be blamed for most of what's gone wrong this season

How is any of that Eddie Howe's fault? We're not saying he's entirely blameless, we could easily point to things we think he's done wrong, but this entire season was always going to be a learning experience for Howe and the vast majority of our squad.

Binning Howe off now would be insane. He's put so much into this club, been instrumental in everything in, on and around the training ground. It's all been done with his input, and the players are now well-drilled in the way he wants them to play, which, unfortunately, is too intense to do three times a week without other players to rotate.

For us, Howe still has a few get-out-of-jail-free cards to play for all he's done, and we're big believers in giving managers time rather than sacking them the minute things go bad - unless they were gash to begin with like Steve McClaren and Steve Bruce - but stability brings success.

Let's get behind the gaffer, get behind the lads and ignore all the calls from down south suggesting that Howe is under pressure because those journos know nothing and just need stuff to write about.