Newcastle drop biggest hint yet over Eddie Howe as PIF meeting changes - Report

Eddie Howe's future as Newcastle United boss is the talk of the town after the Magpies fell to another embarrassing defeat on Saturday.

Newcastle have now lost eight out of their last 11 Premier League games, which is absolutely shocking form for a club with ambitions of chasing titles by 2030.

Naturally, that kind of form has raised questions over whether the current boss, Eddie Howe, is still the right man for the job.

The Newcastle fanbase is pretty evenly split on whether the 48-year-old should stay or go, but it's not the fans who make the decisions; it's the Newcastle board, and they don't appear to be giving much away.

There have been plenty of reports around what the board is expected to do, but it's all just speculation and second-hand information for now.

Eddie Howe will be involved in next week's meeting with the PIF

However, The Chronicle have reported that Eddie Howe will be involved in the board meeting with the PIF when Yasir Al-Rumayyan flies into Newcastle next week.

David Hopkinson and his board members were due to meet with the majority owners next week to discuss the club's future, but now The Chronicle has been told that Howe will also be part of that meeting.

It's not thought to be a crisis meeting, but more about planning, which heavily suggests that Eddie Howe retains the full backing of the hierarchy, which has been backed up by sources within the club.

"The word coming out of St James' Park is that the focus - via sporting director Ross Wilson and Hopkinson - is to ensure Howe and his coaches have what they need to succeed."

Where's the communication?

We'd still like some form of confirmation by the club that the plan is to give Howe the time to rebuild, just to put an end to all of this speculation and fighting. For now, at least.

All of this discourse is unhealthy at the best of times, but when the team is clearly struggling, surely removing one source of discontent is a good thing.

How much is really going to change between now and the end of the season that they feel the need to keep stringing everyone along?