No storm at Newcastle despite patchy start thanks to Howe’s calm influence

When Chris Hughton arrived at Newcastle’s training ground for the first time, the mere act of opening his car door threatened to dispatch him to the medical room.

The club’s former manager would subsequently joke that the capricious gust of wind which almost separated his right arm from its socket was a metaphor for the persistent turbulence then afflicting St James’ Park employees.

Almost a decade after Hughton’s eventual sacking in 2010, Steve Bruce signalled that little had changed. “There’s always a storm in Newcastle,” moaned Eddie Howe’s predecessor. “After two indifferent results there’s a so-called mini-crisis. Everything gets over-sensationalised.”

In recent months, though, something has finally changed on Tyneside. Frequent, invariably chill north-east winds still whip through Newcastle’s suburban training base but, inside a weekday HQ now benefiting from a much-needed Howe-inspired makeover, the mood is unusually calm.

It is no exaggeration to say last October’s sudden regime change – the contentious Saudi Arabian-led takeover which brought Mike Ashley’s ownership to an unlamented end – has altered the club’s mindset beyond recognition.

In previous seasons, Newcastle’s collection of a modest eight points from the campaign’s first seven games would have prompted concern among fans. This time things are very different.

Admittedly Howe is not exactly sanguine about the absence of a Premier League win since the opening-day home victory against Nottingham Forest, and a smattering of boos from the Gallowgate End greeted the recent draw against Bournemouth, but there is no sense of an impending relegation skirmish.

If anything the new peril is merely treading mid-table water. Although the £210m spent on high-calibre