Newcastle’s cold war has only one winner – unless Eddie Howe and Paul Mitchell can end the tension

Something is not right at Newcastle United. It is a feeling that has been hanging like a loose thread, ready to be pulled, for weeks. The suspicions and doubts that soured the summer are in danger of lingering into the autumn.

The relationship between manager Eddie Howe and sporting director Paul Mitchell has clearly had its problems. There have been arguments – Telegraph Sport revealed as much in July. Tensions remain, but they are hidden beneath the surface. There is friction, but talk of a civil war was rightly derided by Howe on Friday.

The relationship has been strained at times, but that is more of a historical concern than an ongoing one. Howe and Mitchell are working together. It is a functional relationship at this stage, nothing more, but that is good enough for now.

Neither have been pushed to breaking point and, certainly for Howe’s part, he is extremely happy to be Newcastle United manager. His family are settled in the area and he just wants to make sure that continues for as long as possible. Sources close to the 46-year-old are adamant that he has no interest in replacing Gareth Southgate as England manager at this stage.

For his part, despite a somewhat awkward interview last week, Mitchell is full of praise for Howe’s work with the players and the team. He rates him as one of the best coaches in Europe. He wants him to stay, as does chief executive Darren Eales.

Unless results suddenly take a nosedive, there is no reason to believe Howe will be sacked. There is simply no appetite at boardroom level to do so. That is sensible. After all, there would only be one winner in a popularity contest on Tyneside.

Howe is the manager who saved the club from relegation, took them to a first major cup final in 20 years, qualified for the Champions League and secured another top-seven finish last season (despite a horrendous injury list), playing an entertaining style of football not seen since Kevin Keegan’s heady days on Tyneside in the 1990s. He is the club’s best and most beloved manager since Sir Bobby Robson.

Mitchell is the new sporting director who has been a bit brash and abrasive behind the scenes as he tries to assert his authority. That would be all well and good for a new sporting director with fresh ideas, but he has failed to sign a single player to improve the first team in his first transfer window. The pressure is on him to deliver in January.

He used his only get-out-of-jail-free card by saying he arrived too late in the summer to influence recruitment, while also blaming the club’s weak scouting network and the use of data under the previous regime.

To be fair, it’s too early to judge him. But if he causes Howe’s departure, things will get ugly for him and Eales – and quickly. History shows you don’t sack idolised managers at Newcastle. Just ask Keegan and former owner Mike Ashley.

We are not at that point and people who suggest otherwise are creating a situation that does not reflect reality.

For those of us who have lived through the various bitter conflicts behind the scenes in Newcastle over the years, this is a rather tame version. It is more of a cold war than a civil war. Howe and Mitchell are not arguing. They are not fighting each other; they are still trying to understand each other.

They are, as one informed source put it this week, “moving forward, determined to move forward and work together to keep the club moving forward.”

A somewhat chilly corporate culture has emerged this summer, led by the corporate behemoth that is Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, which holds a controlling majority stake. This has replaced the all-inclusive, big-family, “we’re in this together” management style led by former co-owner Amanda Staveley.

Newcastle seem a colder football club than they were and, for a manager of Howe’s emotional and personal make-up, that has been difficult to process.

But he is willing to adapt and work with people in the new regime, as long as he continues to believe there is a collaborative approach to recruitment and other football decisions.

At the moment, there is no evidence he can point to to say that it won’t be. Nor has anyone told him that it will change.

The test will come in the January transfer window and the build-up to it. For now, everything else is noise. There is always noise at Newcastle, internally and externally. Howe knows this and will focus on what he can control in the short term; the players and the squad. That is all that matters to him and what he is best at.

As long as Mitchell doesn’t try to force players he doesn’t want, there won’t be a divide big enough to cause a schism.

Ultimately, it’s in Howe and Mitchell’s best interest to put their initial issues behind them, find common ground, and work together. If they don’t, that’s when the problems will really begin.

They need to seek peace, not war. This requires diplomacy; hopefully, taking place in private rather than in press conferences and media interviews.

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