Newcastle legend Alan Shearer has praised the club for their support of Sandro Tonali.
Tonali has been banned from playing for ten months for illegal betting.
Shearer told BBC Sport: "He [Howe] came out and stuck up for him as you'd expect and he said he wanted everyone to put their arms around him.
"Certainly the crowd did that at the weekend and when they were going round the pitch at the end he got a great reception. There's a fine balance between a punishment and protecting people."
On the struggles Tonali may face while not playing, he added: "That's going to be really difficult for him. But what has happened in the last few days, the Newcastle United public have shown great support for him, I'm sure his team-mates have there is no doubt about that.
"The football club and the manager have which has to be huge for him. I don't think there was any other option for Newcastle other than to do that. As I said there's a fine balance between finding the correct punishment for someone and also giving them the help that clearly they need."
