Eddie Howe has new ally at Newcastle United who will ‘protect’ him after Amanda Staveley’s departure

Newcastle United manager Eddie Howe has a new ally at the club who will “protect” him “in any way” he can.

Howe’s relationship with former co-owner Amanda Staveley was excellent, but following her departure, along with husband and fellow co-owner Mehrdad Ghodoussi, there is a feeling the Magpies boss may have lost a layer of protection he once had in the boardroom.

In a day of reshuffling on Friday, Newcastle also announced an extra arrival at the club, as well as the departure of two of the architects of the club’s takeover in October 2021.

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James Bunce has been announced as the club’s new performance director, having previously worked with the likes of Southampton, US Soccer and most recently with newly appointed sporting director Paul Mitchell at Monaco.

A club statement confirmed Bunce would report to Mitchell and that he would be a “key support to the club’s performance, medicine, sports science, nutrition and psychology teams, helping to drive an elite performance culture and cohesive approach across the men’s first team, Academy and Newcastle United Women”.

It is a role in which he will also work closely with Howe, and Bunce has previously highlighted the importance of his relationships with managers at clubs he has previously worked at and spoken of his desire to “protect” coaches as if they were a “couple”.

“My responsibility is to build an incredible relationship with the head coach,” Bunce told the Training Science podcast.

“I think it was best described by a previous coach and I took it as a huge compliment. He said, ‘You and I can never be best friends, but we can be like a couple.’

“Sometimes I have to deliver the bad news. I can’t just be a best friend who says, ‘Yeah, we’re doing great. Everything’s great. You’re doing great, it’s perfect.’

“My job sometimes is to sit down as a couple and have a very difficult conversation. But we’re having this conversation because we love each other and we want to make this work.

“So for me it was a huge compliment because my job is to protect the coach. I say that to their face. They are the ones who will be fired if the results are bad. I am not.

“So I take full responsibility for this huge thing that could happen to them, so I want to protect them in every way I can.”

Speaking after his arrival at Newcastle was confirmed, Bunce said: “I am proud and excited to be joining such a historic and ambitious club as their new performance director.

“Newcastle United and the city are experiencing an exciting time of growth and development and I can’t wait to start contributing to the club’s future success.

“My role will be to ensure we invest in all areas of performance and medicine to optimise the health, fitness and wellbeing of players, ultimately ensuring they are available to perform at the highest level, week in, week out.”