Jump to content

Recommended Posts

4 minutes ago, Miggys First Goal said:

Putting this out there so I can say I told you so when it happens. 
 

Eddie Howe will win the PL with Newcastle United. 

 

 

 


Definitely won’t get edited to say ‘Eddie Howe will get Newcastle United relegated’, if required

 

:p

 

Link to post
Share on other sites

Fucking lovely to hear we've got someone who was seemingly desperate to land the job, and has put a lot of time and effort into preparing for it. Was always the danger that we'd just end up with some big name half-arsing it for a pay cheque.

 

Gone from feeling relatively meh, 'he's not the worst option, but far from my first choice', to genuinely excited to see what he can achieve. :) 

Link to post
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Miggys First Goal said:

I would fucking LOVE if he had them in at 7 tomorrow morning, bunch of lazy bastards that they are. And then he turns around and says, back again this afternoon. [emoji38]

 

Two a days until you win high-school football style. :clap:

Link to post
Share on other sites

Only one player has liked all the posts from the club, and that's Almiron. It's probably just his social team, but I do like the idea that he's sat there like "Thank fuck that 2 years is over, I can actually enjoy my football again" :lol: 

Link to post
Share on other sites

27 minutes ago, Rich said:

'Best interview by far': Inside the meeting that secured Eddie Howe the Newcastle job


Howe was of interest to the consortium and their advisors, but until a critical Zoom meeting he was seen as a peripheral candidate

 

Eddie Howe did not just interview for the Newcastle United manager’s job, he explained why he wanted it, what needed to be done to keep the club in the Premier League and what he would do to improve the team in both the short and medium term.

 

It was not a sales pitch, it was a comprehensive and detailed plan, addressing the immediate needs of a team that has not won a game since May, the type of players he would want in January to strengthen the squad and what his vision was for the summer and beyond.

 

Nobody else who was given the chance to impress Newcastle United’s new owners were able to match it.

 

Howe was already of interest to several members of the consortium and their advisors, but until that meeting over Zoom he was seen as a peripheral candidate. Bigger names, along with some boasting a few more varied and trophy winning CVs were seen as the front runners.

 

All of that changed on that video conference call just over a week ago. Every single member of the consortium including and, most tellingly of all, chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan, were won over. Howe was, in the words of one witness, “superb.”

 

“It was the best interview by far,” a senior source told Telegraph Sport. “He had prepared meticulously, he knew the Newcastle players, what they were good at and where they needed to improve.

 

“He has studied the squad and done his research. He was fully prepared for every question and answered everything thrown at him. He also knew about the club, the fans and what is expected of a Newcastle manager if they are going to succeed here.

 

“Where other candidates talked in general about their principles, methods and philosophies, Eddie Howe was specific and tailored everything to what he would inherit at Newcastle. He had already identified where the strengths and weaknesses were, what the squad would need in January, as well as the type of players the club needed to improve.

 

“But he also talked about his training methods, the tactics that would work best with the players we have now. There was a vision for progress. How he wanted to play and why. It was just a really, really strong and persuasive presentation. We all agreed how good he could be.”

 

For Howe, time is of the essence. The plan is in place and now the 43-year-old is keen to implement it. “This is a wonderful opportunity, but there is also a lot of work ahead of us and I am eager to get onto the training ground to start working with the players,” he said as he was unveiled as Steve Bruce’s successor on Monday.

 

“I would like to thank the club's owners for this opportunity and thank the club's supporters for the incredible welcome they have already given me. I am very excited to begin our journey together.”

 

So why did Newcastle move for Villareal manager Unai Emery before offering it to Howe? It came down to profile, according to another source: “Emery was better known outside of England,” they said. “He is a big name manager in Europe and he was likened a lot to Rafa Benitez. That swung it in his favour initially but it was a split decision.”

 

As a result, although there was embarrassment when Emery turned an offer down last week, after there had been briefing from within the club that he had told them he was coming, there was not too much disappointment.

 

Howe had been the first choice of two of the five people who had voted. Even those who had preferred Emery had been conflicted. It was genuinely a close call. So when the Spaniard turned them down, Newcastle turned immediately to Howe.

 

“He is a great fit for what we are trying to build here,” part-owner Amanda Staveley said when confirming Howe’s appointment. “We are delighted to welcome Eddie and his staff to St James’ Park and very much look forward to working together towards our collective ambitions.”

 

It is worth noting that the reservations about Howe largely stemmed from two concerns. The first was that he had not managed a club of Newcastle’s size before, under the same media scrutiny and public expectation. The second, was the doubt caused by the fact Howe had suffered relegation with Bournenmouth in his final season as manager and his first priority would be to ensure the Magpies stayed up.

 

The Saudi Arabians who run the club and effectively own it too through the country’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) do not want their first notable act to be relegation to the Championship. It would be a humiliation.

 

There is no escaping the fact that Howe will be under more pressure than ever before at Newcastle. It is a demanding club to manage and the list of names who have failed and or been hounded out, is a long and illustrious one.

 

Every decision, from team selection, to tactics, to substitutions, what he says in press conferences, even what he does in his social life around the city will be examined, debated and, in time, criticised. It comes with the territory and is on a completely different level to what he experienced and handled before at both Bournemouth and Burnley.

 

The consortium who run the club, though, feel he can thrive in this environment rather than wilt. They believe the time was right for Howe to move to a bigger club, mainly because he stressed that was the case. He sounded ideal, as well as ready.

 

He served his time in the lower leagues, winning promotions. He has kept a small, unfashionable club in the top flight for several years, now he is ready to show the manager people thought he could be at Bournemouth has arrived at Newcastle.

 

Howe also brought vast knowledge of English football, the players, the personalities and top flight rivals. The one thing the new owners so obviously lack - and which has already been evident in a blundering start - is football knowledge and expertise.

 

Howe will immediately add that. It is a huge boost, particularly ahead of the January transfer window with the Magpies yet to appoint a sporting director or a chief executive. Newcastle will have around £50m to spend in the winter window, and will also utilise the loan market, but they will not be making superstar signings. They need pragmatic ones; good players and good characters too.

 

Howe made it clear he had the expertise in this field to make an immediate impact. He knows what is needed to grow as a football club, not just as a team, because he was so much part of the decision making process as Bournemouth rose from League Two to the Premier League. He already has an idea about who should be their main transfer targets.

All this was given to his new employers during his interview. Every manager appointment is a risk, but Newcastle appear to have minimised theirs in choosing Eddie Howe. The time was right for him to return to football after more than 18 months out of the game.

 

I feel better after reading that. If he really is as familiar with our squad as that suggests.

 

 

Edited by Skeletor

Link to post
Share on other sites

It wouldn’t surprise me if when the takeover was first officially announced that someone somewhere put feelers out to him and since then he’s went into due diligence mode on the squad and other things, that’s the type of manager he seems. I’m absolutely fucking delighted personally that we now have a proper manager, a man I can actually like, trust and get behind, and who given the current climate can do something special here, hopefully anyway!

Link to post
Share on other sites

Sky Sports News just put on some snippets of that MNF interview from last year and it's just mint. Spoke about how he's representing the town/city as much as the football club and then spends five minutes analysing his corner routine (ironically enough against us) and I'm enthralled! 

 

It's like going from John Logie Baird's rough prototype to an 8K OLED in an instant, whilst being half aware that colour televisions do actually exist. 

 

I can't believe Eddie Howe and Steve Bruce do the same job (thereoretically) and one was free whereas the other cost £6million. 

Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...