Eddie Howe admits every day of January will matter as Newcastle attempt to bolster their squad for a tooth-and-nail Premier League relegation fight over the second half of the season.
The Magpies will hope to flex their newly acquired financial muscle when the transfer window opens on January 1, with Amanda Staveley’s Saudi-backed consortium looking to significantly strengthen the squad they inherited after almost 14 years of relatively meagre investment under previous owner Mike Ashley.
However, that may prove easier said than done as they try to land the calibre of player they want with their plight so precarious, and head coach Howe is under no illusions that his hopes of doing business quickly lie out of his hands.
He said: “Of course ideally you’d want to utilise every day that you have. Certainly, from our perspective, we know we’re in a hurry, we’re not sat back thinking we’ve got all the time in the world.
“That’s not where we are in our current position. Every day matters.
“In saying that, you don’t control a lot of those factors, the players and the clubs and sometimes the agents control the speed of things.
“We’re well aware of what we need to do, but as I say, doing it is another thing and it’s very complex.”
Despite winning only one of his first seven games – Newcastle had gone 11 without victory in the league before his arrival – Howe has been able to take positives from some of the performances, even in defeat.
However, he acknowledges the need to start dealing in the hard currency of points sooner rather than later if he is to complete his rescue mission, with Manchester United’s visit to St James’ Park on Monday the next opportunity to add to their paltry tally of 10 to date.
He said: “You always need to win, and I am in the kind of job when only winning is acceptable really because you can talk and highlight positives – that is great – but ultimately only winning silences any outside noise. And even within the squad, the players need to win.
“Now we have to also have our stability in our thought process. We have to understand the moment we are in and have calmness in our thoughts.
“The work on the training ground is good work, in my opinion, and we will see the fruits of that labour. It may take a bit of time, but I am really pleased with the progress we are making, while being well aware we are in a results business as well.”
