IN the immediate aftermath of Wednesday’s Champions League heartbreak at the hands of AC Milan, the overriding feeling within the Newcastle United dressing room was one of intense disappointment.

Bruno Guimaraes and Joelinton both slumped to the St James’ Park turf, heartbroken by the 2-1 defeat that ended Newcastle’s European involvement. Eddie Howe made a point of consoling his players on the pitch before trudging towards the dressing room. Even Jason Tindall, normally so ebullient, was visibly dejected.

A couple of days on, and while the pain remains raw, a degree of equilibrium has returned, helped in no small part by the reaction of Newcastle’s ownership group to the midweek setback. Howe has spoken personally to both Amanda Staveley and Mehrdad Ghodoussi since Wednesday, and has also received messages from the Magpies’ Saudi Arabia-based chairman, Yasir al-Rummayan.

Unequivocally, the line from above has been one of unwavering support. Yes, missing out on the last 16 of the Champions League, as well as a place in the Europa League, hurt everyone. But there is no question of any recriminations being required.

“I’ve spoken with the owners,” said Howe, whose side will look to bounce back at the first time of asking when they host Fulham in the Premier League tomorrow. “I have regular conversations with them all. They’ve been nothing but supportive, not just through this time, but through my whole time here.

“As I’ve said many times, I think they see the work that goes on behind closed doors and they have close relationships with the players. We are like a family, we’re very close. That’s not just me with them, it’s everybody connected with the club.

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“I think there’s just that feeling that they’re very supportive of the players and understanding of how much they’ve given. They can see the efforts on the pitch, and I think that’s the most important thing.

“The key thing is always the evidence on the pitch of what we’re giving. How committed are we? Are we giving everything there? And I think we have. That’s why I have no regrets over what the players have given over this Champions League campaign. I might have regrets over a couple of other things, but not at all over what the players have given. That’s always the biggest judgement for me.”

Newcastle’s failure to make the last 16 of the Champions League means they have missed out on the £20m-or-so that would have been guaranteed as a minimum just for making the knockout stages of the competition.

Dropping into the Europa League would have guaranteed an additional income of around £4-5m, but while the financial impact of Wednesday’s defeat is hardly inconsequential, this season’s European campaign was always seen as something of a bonus.

It certainly didn’t look to be on the cards before the start of last season, so while any additional income would have been welcome, with Newcastle still having to tread carefully as they look to stay on the right side of the Premier League’s Financial Fair Play rules, exiting Europe will not directly affect the club’s plans for the next couple of transfer windows.

“I think if you’re looking at it analytically, the players did incredibly well last year to finish where they did,” said Howe. “It was miles ahead of schedule because, in pre-season, no one was talking about top four or Champions League football.

“You have to give the players a lot of credit, so what you can’t then do is give them a lot of credit and then hammer them at the same time because we couldn’t then follow that up.

“Of course, that was the wish and aim, and we will critique ourselves. But I don’t think it’s a time for criticism of the players, I think it’s a time for support. Of course, I’m fully prepared to criticise if I feel that is right, but in this moment, with the same 11 players playing for four or five weeks, I think they deserve a lot of credit.”

Howe also doubled down on his defence of his side’s approach in the latter stages of Wednesday’s game, when pushing for the winner that would have secured Champions League qualification arguably contributed to them losing the game and dropping out of a Europa League place.

“We attacked to try to achieve something rather than anything else,” said Howe. “Yes, the second goal is an example of us attacking the game. Fabian’s (Schar) gone on a lung-busting run with the intention of trying to score to send us through to the Champions League.

“I’m not going to criticise that – that’s the attitude I want from the players. Kevin Keegan built his team here on that philosophy, and I said when I came here that’s the team I wanted to build. I can’t then go back on that when it doesn’t work.”