Eddie Howe is an excellent coach. Newcastle were a bottom-of-the-table team. No one imagined that this team would qualify for the Champions League. Eddie Howe has been able to stabilize this team. There were no star players in the squad. Even then, the team was at the top of the points table due to the understanding between the players and good match strategy.
Eddie Howe believes in going slow. And strengthening the team gradually makes it last longer. Perhaps this is why Eddie Howe is in no rush to strengthen his squad. I wouldn't have high hopes for Newcastle in the Champions League next season. But expect this team to fight for the top four of the Premier League table.
Not to downplay how good Eddie Howe is/was but to be fair after they were sold to the Saudi family, I feel like it wasn't really that shocking that they would become better. They have spent, over 70 million just for this seasons transfers so far and they may do more, over 170 million last season to get this result, and another 130 million the year before that to get out of relegation zone as well.
So when you think about it, they have spent 300 million to get the results they have gotten so far and I bet that they are going to spend another 100+ million by the looks of things as well this year. When you spend that much money, that usually returns a good result. Of course you could also be like Chelsea, so Eddie did alright.