Eddie Howe issues apology as Newcastle United breach UEFA regulations but avoid punishment

Newcastle were set to travel to Milan Malpensa Airport at 2:30pm on Monday afternoon after training at Darsley Park in the morning with Eddie Howe’s pre-match press conference with Sandro Tonali due to take place at 7pm local time.

Watch now on Shots!, Newcastle United’s Road to Europe - our latest exclusive video feature

But The Magpies’ chartered flight from Newcastle International Airport eventually took off at 4:49pm, delaying Howe’s press conference.

As a result, breached UEFA regulations which state pre-match press conferences must take place between 12pm and 8pm local time on the day before the game. But The Magpies are set to escape with a warning with Eddie Howe explaining the torrential conditions in Milan as the reason for the delay.

“I believe it was a weather problem,” Howe said in his delayed press conference which took place after 9pm local time. “We were delayed taking off and we were sat on the runway for quite some time.

“But that is nothing out of the ordinary for us. We do a lot of travelling in the UK and this happens from time to time.

“Apologies for being late. It is just part and parcel of the job that we do. It can happen at air traffic control, this was a weather problem.

“We have been in similar situations before.

“It has been a long day for us, early start and late finish. So we have just been trying to get our preparation and gameplan right. Trying to make sure we are as organised as we can be.

“It has been intense as after the Brentford game it was all focus on this one. No [concern] we are used to it. Slightly later than we would have liked to arrive for the players but it’s not a big deal.”

In response to Newcastle choosing to train early at Darsley Park, Howe added: “We never thought of coming earlier in the day so we could do our tactical work behind closed doors, for me that’s so important because of the small time between games so it was really valuable that we did that.”