Eddie Howe is set to find out how much support he has from Newcastle's Saudi owners.

Eddie Howe, flanked by Newcastle co-owners Mehrdad Ghodoussi and Amanda Staveley, is in a difficult situation after four defeats in five league games. : PA/Owen Humphreys

They say that in difficult times you find out who your real friends are, and Eddie Howe is about to find out how much support he has from Newcastle United's Saudi Arabian owners.

< p>We may learn more in the next four to six weeks about what this project, led by the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF), is all about than we have learned in the 26 months since the takeover was ratified by the Premier League .

Will Newcastle become just another English club with ambitious owners who sack the manager at the first hint of decline? Is PIF going to make the same spontaneous boardroom decisions that have characterized other Premier League newcomers and make Howe the scapegoat for the decline in results and form?

Or is it a long-term, carefully considered growth plan that we are told was led by an ownership group that claimed to have already foreseen the roadblocks that might arise in turning a club haunted by relegation fears into a stable European club? contenders?

‌What does the future hold for Howe?

Howe has done a superb job since his appointment in November  2021, saving the club from relegation in his first season and finishing in the top four in his second. So far it has consistently exceeded expectations.

As a result, the 46-year-old has a lot of goodwill from supporters and, apart from some typically rabid responses on social media, he retains the full support of his fans. No one is seriously claiming that he is under pressure, let alone calling for his dismissal.

However, for the first time since his appointment, Howe is going through a truly bad period. Newcastle have lost eight of their last 12 games in all competitions. After two years of praise and plaudits, there is now anxiety and a hint of division on Tyneside.

Newcastle crashed out of Europe following a 2-1 home defeat to AC Milan in the Champions League earlier this month. , which meant they finished bottom of their group.

A week later they somehow managed to lose to Chelsea in the League Cup quarter-finals on penalties, despite winning with just two minutes of stoppage time remaining in the game time. after a mistake by their former talismanic captain Kieran Trippier.

Trippier's slump in form (he was also guilty of costly errors in defeats to Everton and Tottenham Hotspur) became emblematic of a team that had lost too many players. about what brought them success.