Amanda Staveley confirms Eddie Howe will be backed in January transfer window
Amanda Staveley says Newcastle will back Eddie Howe in the January transfer window following his appointment as head coach.
The 43-year-old was appointed as Steve Bruce's successor earlier this week but the former Bournemouth boss faces an uphill task in trying to preserve the club's Premier League status.
The Magpies are currently 19th, level on points with basement boys Norwich, after failing to notch a Premier League win in their first 11 outings. In that time, they have scored just 12 goals and have conceded 24 - the second-worst defensive record in the division.
Signings in January may be the only way for Newcastle to keep themselves afloat, although there are suggestions that top Premier League clubs may refuse to do business amid concerns over the ethics of their Saudi-led takeover.
Nevertheless, Staveley, who is a director and shareholder at Newcastle, says the club are planning to spend in January as they recognise it may be the only way for Howe to stave off the drop.
"We are preparing for the January transfer window," Staveley revealed in an interview with the club's website. "It's not a window we would ordinarily want to invest in, because you probably don't get the right deals, but that's something that is important at the moment.
"It would have been an easy decision for us not to buy the club, just to wait until post-Christmas and post the January window and see where the club was in the league, and then make the acquisition.
"That would have been the safe investment bet, but we didn't do that. We decided, if we didn't do it now, it wasn't going to happen and we had to take that risk.
"We took that risk because the club was sitting in 19th position at the time and Eddie took the job knowing there was that risk."
Howe's appointment as manager follows a lengthy spell out of the game. He's been unemployed since leaving Bournemouth following their relegation from the Premier League in 2019/20, though he did come close to taking the Celtic job over the summer before talks broke down.
Many will associate Howe with taking Bournemouth down to the Championship but Staveley pointed to the excellent work he'd previously done on the south coast - namely establishing the Cherries as a Premier League outfit on relatively meagre resources when compared to other top-flight teams.
"We had to have someone leading the club who was not frightened of relegation," Staveley added. "Obviously he had an incredible impact on Bournemouth and I think we were impressed with the fact he's done all that on quite limited resources.
"It's very easy to win trophies if you've got a lot of money, or a lot of infrastructure or a lot of people. But when you are limited by those factors, his success really shone out."