NEWCASTLE, England (AP) – Eddie Howe’s job as Newcastle manager is safe “at this time”, chief executive David Hopkinson said on Tuesday.
The Saudi-owned Premier League team has also released the latest financial figures showing the club has effectively sold St James’ Park to its parent company.
Hopkinson stopped short of guaranteeing that Howe, who has been in charge since November 2021, will continue as manager after this season.
Newcastle sit 12th in the 20-team Premier League, but were just eliminated from the Champions League in 2019. humiliating fashion They lost to Barcelona in the round of 16 and are certain to end the season without a trophy.
Newcastle’s most recent game was a 2-1 defeat at home to strong rivals Sunderland, adding to the pressure on Howe.
“Eddie is our manager,” Hopkinson said. “I’m looking forward to a great run here until the end of the season and we’ll talk about the future when the time is right.”
Asked to clarify his comments, Hopkinson said: “We’re not going to change anything at this point. We haven’t had those conversations. We’re still in the middle of the season. We’re focused on the last seven games right now and not getting distracted by speculation about what we will or won’t do in the summer.”
In Newcastle’s group strategic report for the 12 months to June 2025, the club announced a profit after tax of £34.7 million (approximately $45.9 million). This was partly due to a 44% rise in commercial revenue, with turnover increasing by £15 million ($20 million) to a record £335.3 million ($444 million), roughly half of England’s biggest team.
The report also said the decision to effectively sell and lease back St James’s Park, Newcastle’s famous stadium near the city center, to its immediate parent company PZ Newco Limited, was part of a “restructuring of asset holdings and group structure to facilitate future infrastructure investment”.
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