Next season could be make or break for Eddie Howe at Newcastle United - opinion

After two and a half seasons at Newcastle United Eddie Howe has dragged the club from relegation fodder to the Champions League and then to a top-eight side after a testing season.

The 2023/24 campaign was rough to say the least. A never-ending injury list took its toll on what was meant to be a celebratory season back amongst the big boys of the Champions League, however, those extra games coupled with the injuries meant that Eddie Howe's men often struggled.

Once the Champions League was off the table and Newcastle started to get a few players back from injury things did start to improve, but previously postponed fixtures were rearranged and three game weeks returned, as did the stacking of injuries.

There was never really a point in this season you could look at and say "That's Newcastle, that's where they are now".

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A vocal minority were calling for a managerial change this season

Despite all these factors outside of Eddie Howe's control there were calls from the vocal minority to wield the axe and bring someone new in. Quite what someone else could have done with such a depleted squad and overbearing schedule, we don't know. Eddie Howe handled this season brilliantly. Of course he made mistakes, there's not a manager out there who wouldn't have.

While Newcastle finished the season with nothing to show for it after missing out on Europe thanks to Manchester United's shock FA Cup win, the feeling is that the Magpies are still ahead of schedule when it comes to the PIF project.

When the takeover happened, Champions League was a five-year target and winning trophies was within 10 years. It took just one full season to get Champions League back and, while we didn't win, we were in a domestic cup final.

What would success look like next season?

In that season, Chelsea and Liverpool were absolutely rotten and we were able to take advantage of that, but there was no way that was going to happen again this season and both did finish above Newcastle this time around.

Again, though, you take our injuries and Sandro Tonali's lengthy ban out of the equation and there's no telling where we'd be.

That's why, the next season is the true test for Howe. With no Champions League to distract us, we've got a straight shot at the league and domestic cups. We can't predict what will happen in terms of injuries, but with more time between games, it surely shouldn't be as bad as what we've just been through.

2024/25 will show us for what we really are, and while we're probably still not quite top four/winning trophies level, we have to be pushing for that now. We have to be aiming for top six and maybe another cup final if we're being greedy. Which we should be.