Eddie Howe is plotting a Newcastle dynasty and it starts with three major targets | OneFootball

Many of a black-and-white persuasion were taken aback at Wembley. The Geordie nation who had been starved of success, who had resigned themselves to never seeing Newcastle win anything, witnessed their first trophy since the 1960s, their first in English competitions since the 1950s.

Eddie Howe was surprised, too. He hadn’t even noticed that the prize for lifting the Carabao Cup included a spot in next season’s Conference League.

“I wasn’t aware of that,” he said. “You have just told me something, so thank you.” The silverware was the aim, European qualification a byproduct.

Some 30 other English (or, in Swansea’s case, Welsh) clubs had claimed major honours since Newcastle had done. League positions and revenues can be paramount in the modern era but this was about emotion and history, a trophy and the celebrations that, Howe said, meant he would encourage his very professional team to be very unprofessional.

There is a heart and soul to this club, personified by the huge frame of Dan Burn, even if the ownership present a different picture. In practice, Newcastle are not the world’s richest club; far more of the Saudi millions have been used to entice players to the Middle East. Instead, Howe has come to seem the most important figure in the Tyneside project and there is ambition in a mild-mannered man.

This, he believes, could be a stepping stone. “Hopefully one can become more,” he said. Newcastle were a cup team in the 1950s. They could become one in the 2020s, too, especially now they have finally proved they can win at Wembley.

They can certainly triumph in one-off occasions. They knocked out each of the Premier League’s top four to win the Carabao Cup. They have showed they can beat the best; home and away in the case of Arsenal. Demolishing Paris Saint-Germain in last season’s Champions League was a further indication Newcastle’s best is very good.

A team with 15 wins in their last 20 games can still rue their inconsistency, the odd setback. That could cost them a reunion with PSG. The league table shows them sixth, though on such days they are not the sixth-best side in the country.

Upon the takeover in 2021, Amanda Staveley said it was their ambition to win the Premier League in five-to-ten years; they almost certainly won’t win it in five. There are comparisons with Manchester City, with the breakthrough moment when they won their first trophy in 35 years, in the 2011 FA Cup, and it led to a flood of titles.

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Eddie Howe has transformed Newcastle since his arrival in 2021 (Getty Images)

But the framework is different: in a world of PSR, spending is capped. Newcastle haven’t strengthened their starting 11 in the last three transfer windows. Whereas Aston Villa, in a similar situation, go for constant trading, Newcastle have a continuity. A policy of not wanting to sell their best player is aided by the affinity imports such as Bruno Guimaraes have developed with Newcastle which, in turn, is a sign Howe’s impact is cultural and well as tactical.

Aided by the profitable January departures of Lloyd Kelly and Miguel Almiron, with some of the earlier buying off the books, with European income, there should be more leeway to spend. The obvious targets are a right winger and a right-sided centre-back, but with the Newcastle-esque caveat that Jacob Murphy has proved unexpectedly excellent this season and that, had Marc Guehi joined last summer, maybe Burn would have been benched. There are, too, enduring suggestions that James Trafford is of interest and a goalkeeper could be a third major objective.

With five of Howe’s starters on Sunday in their thirties, along with three substitutes, there is a need for regeneration. Much of the older contingent are out of contract either this year or next: Callum Wilson and Jamaal Lascelles could be summer departures while Sean Longstaff, like Elliot Anderson before him, could produce a PSR profit.

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Guimaraes and Joelinton have become integral parts of a formidable Newcastle midfield (Getty Images)

Newcastle’s future could be shaped by this summer, by their next spending spree. An outstanding record in the transfer market offers encouragement, along with the way several of Howe’s signings – Isak, Guimaraes, Sandro Tonali, Anthony Gordon – are or have become high-class players. Howe has improved himself as well as his players, becoming more flexible. He has forged a unique midfield in Tonali, Guimaraes and Joelinton; they are arguably the finest of their kind, even if United are not a possession team.

Much rests on Isak, though: the Swede will not talk about extending his deal until the summer. He ranks among the world’s best strikers, which makes him unaffordable to most clubs and yet irreplaceable if he leaves. It gives an added incentive to secure Champions League football. Win their game in hand and they are fourth: six of their 10 remaining matches are against bottom-half clubs, six at St James’ Park. Clashes with Villa, Brighton and Chelsea are Champions League play-offs by another name.

Making Newcastle a regular presence among the European elite would rank as another concrete achievement for Howe. Because Kevin Keegan’s entertainers were runners-up, Kenny Dalglish’s team destroyed Barcelona and Bobby Robson’s cavaliers captured hearts. All left a legacy of sorts. But with the glint of silverware and the chance that better days are still to come, Howe’s could be still greater.