For Eddie Howe, the darkest hour really did come before the dawn. It was early November 2021 and the then unemployed manager headed to bed one Tuesday night reeling from a late phone call informing him that he had not, after all, landed a new job at Newcastle United.

If the disappointment was crushing, a subsequent call early the following morning would, in Howe’s words, prove “life-changing”. The news that Unai Emery had changed his mind, withdrawn a verbal agreement to succeed Steve Bruce at St James’ Park and decided to stay at Villarreal instead was followed by a question: might Howe still be interested in swapping the south coast for Tyneside?

Two Wembley finals and a League Cup triumph later, the former Bournemouth manager is in the midst of a second Champions League campaign and welcomes to St James’ Park on Sunday an Aston Villa side who have been under Emery’s charge since October 2022.

In disrupting the Premier League’s traditional “top six”, Villa and Newcastle are rocking the establishment boat but top-tier spending rules have not made it easy. Both clubs are desperate for the additional revenue that would accompany being part of next season’s Champions...