Head coach Eddie Howe’s future at Newcastle United is ‘in doubt’ after an “intense” meeting with chief executive David Hopkinson.

Howeis rightly regarded as one of the best managers in Newcastle’s history, having won the Carabao Cup in 2024/25 and guided his team to Champions League qualification in two of the last three seasons.

However, this season is proving disappointing for the Magpies, who have spent most of the campaign in the bottom half of the Premier League table. They have also exited every cup competition.

Newcastle’s situation worsened before the international break as they suffered a demoralising 2-1 home loss to arch-rivals Sunderland, andit was subsequently reported that club chiefs are ‘starting to lose patience’ with Howe.

Now, The Daily Mailare reporting that Howe’s future is ‘in doubt’, and ‘there is no guarantee the most successful manager in Newcastle’s recent history will still be in position come August’.

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Hopkinson has also raised concerns about Howe and was hardly glowing with his comments on the Newcastle boss this week.

“I don’t have a stance on his [Howe’s] future,” Hopkinson said during a media briefing this week.

“What I can tell you is that the derby loss hurt. We take it seriously. There’s nothing within us that thinks: ‘Well, it’s just three points and on we go.’ It has resonated.”

Hopkinson also stated that he has had an “intense” lunch with Howe to discuss Newcastle’s issues after the 2-1 loss to Sunderland ahead of the international break.

“I spent a couple of hours in a one-on-one lunch with Eddie and we talked through a multitude of things including Sunderland,” Hopkinson added.

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“Eddie’s our manager. I expect to have a great run to the end of the season and we’ll talk about the future when it’s time. Right now, we’re focused on this season’s competition.”

Despite this, Hopkinson remained coy when asked whether Howe has been given until the end of this season to prove himself.

“I would not frame it that way. We are not looking to make a change at the moment. We are not having those conversations. We are still in the midst of our season,” Hopkinson continued.

“We are focused on the seven matches we have remaining and not distracting ourselves with speculation about what we may or may not do in the summer. All of us have only got so much bandwidth and we are focused on finishing this season strongly.”

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