Eddie Howe: It's the end of an era at Newcastle - and a "huge summer" awaits

Newcastle United signed off their home campaign with a 3-1 win over West Ham United on Sunday in what was a bittersweet evening for the Magpies.

We're not just talking about the fact that we'd just made it easier for Tottenham to beat the drop, but that we saw the last of Kieran Trippier as a Newcastle player at St James' Park.

Trippier practically defined the new era at Newcastle. He was the first player through the door under the new owners and Eddie Howe, leaving a Championship-winning side in Spain to take a pay cut to come to play for 19th-place Newcastle United with no relegation release clause in his contract.

That belief was contagious and allowed Eddie Howe to build a team of survivors for that season who would then go on and qualify for the Champions League the very next season.

End of an era, admits Howe 

Trippier became a leader at Newcastle and lifted the club's first domestic trophy in 70 years, so his leaving at the end of the season is a really big deal.

During his post-match press conference, Eddie Howe was asked if it felt like the end of an era. While he said this season also felt like a new era after losing Alexander Isak, He agreed that Trippier's departure will be seismic.

"It's always difficult. One or two players can define an era. It has almost been the end of one type of Newcastle team when Alexander left, a new team was forming. Kieran Trippier was an iconic full-back and starts that again.

"That is the nature of football, it is changing and evolving all the time, it changes so quickly, sometimes it has changed slowly and our team has changed slowly after the past couple of years. This summer we might see a change of speed.

"It is about coming out stronger but it may well be different, but it still needs to be effective."

Howe then suggested that we could see a summer of change, admitting it's a "huge" transfer window for the club.

“It’s a big summer for us, a huge summer for the football club. The results how you finish the season give hope for the next and that is what we are trying to do.

"You never know what can happen. It does feel it has the potential to be that summer for us, but regardless of big change or not we have to come out of that transfer window stronger.”

Was that a big hint from Howe?

That feels like a big hint from Howe that there could be many changes ahead this summer. We've all been expecting it, but Howe recently downplayed expectations in an interview where he spoke about a 'drip-feed' approach to transfers.

Perhaps the recent meetings have hammered home just how determined the club is to make big changes this summer, and hopefully that's also come with optimism that those changes will come sooner rather than later, so that Howe has the time to work with his new players before the next season starts. 

That was a luxury not afforded to him last year, and we definitely paid the price for it this season.