Yasir Al-Rumayyan Newcastle dressing room message as Eddie Howe dubbed club's greatest ever manager
Dan Burn spoke to reporters in the aftermath of Newcastle's 3-1 win over Brighton
Newcastle United defender Dan Burn insists the players remain fully behind Eddie Howe, who he believes will go down as the 'best manager in the history' of the club.
Howe has come under some pressure for Newcastle's poor Premier League form this season but Saturday's 3-1 win over Brighton and Hove Albion went a long way to relieving that.
The Magpies are now looking upwards, rather than nervously over their shoulders, after they ended a run of five successive defeats in all competitions in front of the club's ownership.
Burn was among the goalscorers, heading home Newcastle's second goal from Bruno Guimaraes' corner, and he insists the responsibility for their form this term should fall on the players, rather than the head coach.
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"From our point of view, nothing's changed with us," Burn said after Newcastle's win over Brighton on Saturday. "I've said it before, we believe in what the gaffer is doing. I think a lot of the responsibility falls on us as players rather than the manager.
"I've always said this when he puts a plan together, it's normally if we execute that plan, we get a result. So a lot of that falls on our shoulders. We feel like we take a lot of responsibility for that.
"So, yeah, we just want to keep backing him. As I said, I think the managerial, whatever happens in years to come, he will probably go down as the best manager in the history of Newcastle. We just want to get the results for him at the moment.
"I don't read much into it (the talk), if I'm honest. It's probably just people coming up to me and asking what's been going on and all that sort of stuff. As a Newcastle fan, I feel as if we're either really far ahead or really low (as a fan base). There’s not very (much) middle ground, and I'm part of that as well.
"I know that as being a fan and what I was like when I was in the stands, so I can understand the frustration. As I said, I think we've been on such an upward trajectory the last few years that when it's tailed off a little bit, I can understand people being frustrated. But listen, we fully support everything that the club's doing, the owners and the manager. We just want to finish the season strong."
Chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan and director Jamie Reuben spoke to the players in the dressing room after the game, having been in the region for the club's annual summit at Matfen Hall earlier in the week and Burn revealed the message the PIF chief delivered to the club's players.
"He spoke," Burn added. “Obviously, they've had the meeting (at Matfen Hall), so he just said that they were fully committed to what they were doing.
"They've been speaking about what they can do to improve everything over the coming season, the coming years. So, yeah, it was good to see him and Jamie (Reuben) as well. I think that just shows the support that the manager has."