Eddie Howe vows to fight on despite 12th place finish

Newcastle United finished the season in their lowest position since Eddie Howe took over - that includes the season when he came in with Newcastle sitting 19th and looking certainties for relegation.

To say that we're glad that this season is over is an understatement. It has been awful from start to finish, with only brief moments of levity, all of which are easily forgotten.

Newcastle's non-performance at Fulham seemed a fitting way to end the season, in all truth. Gutless and clueless have been the buzzwords all season, and that once again summed up the display today.

Fortunately, Eddie Howe didn't try to defend the performance and admitted that there is a lot of work to be done over the summer.

Eddie Howe is fully committed to Newcastle United

Speaking to the media after the game (via The Chronicle), Eddie Howe vowed to continue next season and then spoke about the need for togetherness in the squad, hinting that it's just not there at the moment.

"My commitment has never wavered from day one to today.

"Regardless of who it is, unity running through a football club is important from top to bottom. You need that togetherness and that plan.

"Whenever you have things to work on you have to absorb it. If you deflect and think it's nothing to do with us, then you never grow or improve.

"Reflection, analysis and learning is all part of the growing at any football club and certainly there is a lot to take in and absorb from this season."

Had today's squad even met before kick-off?

Howe may not have meant for it to come across as if he's saying there's no togetherness in the squad, but the 90 minutes at Craven Cottage that preceded those comments certainly suggested that's the case.

There were times today that it looked like we'd fielded 11 players who'd never met before. Nobody had a clue what anyone else was doing.

As much as we don't want to overreact, we feel there absolutely has to be a huge clearout over the summer, and even players who only arrived last year shouldn't be safe from the chop - we're looking at you, Yoane Wissa and Anthony Elanga.