Eddie Howe

[Dr Venkman]

11 hours ago, Danh1 said:

I know it’s been said loads but the fact Ramsey cannot get on the pitch ahead of Joe fucking Willock, who has a heart the size of a bastard pea, on derby day speaks volumes.

 

 

About what, though? Consider the context, we all know it takes a while for Howe to trust some players, it doesn't mean he's shit 

[r0cafella]

9 minutes ago, Kid Icarus said:

 

It's the Eddie Howe thread, so I'm talking about Eddie Howe. 

 

Do you think I'm putting the boot in for people simply having a different perspective to me? Or do you think maybe I have more of an issue with what that perspective is? All types of heinousness can be categorised as 'a different perspective' it's about what that perspective is.

 

You're doing it yourself with your 'one league cup win' - yeah I am talking partly about that, that one league cup win in 50-odd or 70-odd years depending on when you're counting from. Or the two champions league qualifications, the complete revolution of our football and our success from the moment he walked in the door - basically everything that Howe has achieved right up until now that is now apparently all up for a chopping block debate in the service of what exactly? Because that's just how football is? Because we should never have to endure any set backs like every other club does? Because we should expect a consistent level of success at all times? No if, buts, maybes, or context?

 

It should be absolutely no surprise why anyone would think of some of our fans as spoiled, deluded, and entitled based on the overreaction to Sunday. And I mean on here just as much as I do anywhere else. Obviously that doesn't mean any criticism - Howe isn't exempt from that at all and I've seen plenty that's measured and fair, but I also think there's an endemic of myopia, amnesia, comparative illusion, and entitlement that's clear to see in a lot of it. 

 

The only thing that comes as a bit of a relief is that this isn't worse, even if I do still think 17% with another percentage of people having big doubts about him is in itself shameful. 

 

To clarify, the reason I reference the cup final is due to you mentioned in entitlement. Indeed that's all we've won since before most on here were born so what is this entitlement you speak of exactly? 

 

We've been absolutely honking on the road for what 12 months? That style of play that got us on the edge of our since is massively hit and miss nowadays to the point even the manager himself doesn't know what he's going to get. Does that inspire you with confidence?

 

I'm still Eddie Howe in, you can check the polls, I'm also one of the few who's actually laid my cards out exactly where I stand. 

 

Nobody is denying what Eddie has done for us in the past, nor should they it's an actual fact but football isn't played in the past you can ask Froggy if you don't believe me. 

 

@TheBrownBottle put it perfectly for me personally I support Newcastle united, not Bruno, not Eddie Howe, not PIF or Mike Ashley and this my viewpoints will always reflect what I personally feel is best for the club. 

[Dr Venkman]

10 hours ago, huss9 said:

not little.

sunday was the straw that broke the camels back for many.

 

We're in a QF tonight, we're looking likely to qualify for the next round of the CL, and whilst we've had an underwhelming start in the league we're far from out of contention for top 6. 'Many' need a reality check.

[Chicken Dancer]

I think it’s fair to say that there’s people (including me) who are 100% against sacking Howe but also able to detach and accept that we’ve been turgid to watch for 90% of this season, awful on the road and there’s huge question marks about how we recruited in the summer. 
 

Just because he’s the best manager in our lifetimes and brought us untold joy doesn’t mean he’s above criticism.

 

I think plenty of the issues this season he’s been to blame for. But I still wouldn’t want to see him go and I trust

him to figure it out. 

[Dr Venkman]

15 minutes ago, Kid Icarus said:

basically everything that Howe has achieved right up until now that is now apparently all up for a chopping block debate in the service of what exactly? Because that's just how football is? Because we should never have to endure any set backs like every other club does? Because we should expect a consistent level of success at all times? No if, buts, maybes, or context?

 

[The College Dropout]

8 minutes ago, Dr Venkman said:

 

About what, though? Consider the context, we all know it takes a while for Howe to trust some players, it doesn't mean he's shit 

This is a valid point and there are examples and caveats.

 

I think w/Ramsey he has the least valid reason to not be trusted by Howe. Even Elanga is semi-trusted. Being 24 years old with over 100 PL appearances and being 6th choice CM is a amber flag at the least. He's behind a 19yo and 2025 Joe Willock. And deserverdly so based on performance too.

[The College Dropout]

8 minutes ago, Dr Venkman said:

 

We're in a QF tonight, we're looking likely to qualify for the next round of the CL, and whilst we've had an underwhelming start in the league we're far from out of contention for top 6. 'Many' need a reality check.

No we're not. We're looking likely to qualify for the play-offs, that's not the next round of the CL. It's a massive distinction.

[Holmesy]

11 hours ago, magorific said:

Can’t believe the number of people not mentioning the loss of Isak in their deliberations re Howe and this season.

If you’d asked any NUFC fan early this year whether they’d expect a drop-off in the event of Isak leaving in the summer, who’d have said no? That’s without taking into account the failure to then land Howe’ preferred targets as Isak’s replacement.

The guy had scored 44 league goals for us in two seasons…

Absolutely, but that doesn't explain why none of our players can keep possession, our set pieces are wank, our new signings can't control a ball and we keep conceding last minute goals. Big picture, yes, it has made us less potent and disrupted our playing style but you can't blame everything on Isak leaving. Our ability to put the ball in the back of the net has been impacted and i've no doubt if he was still here, we'd have picked up more points. But using the power of eyesight, it's pretty clear to see things that aren't right that have nothing to do with him leaving.

[wyn davies]

Howe is on borrowed time with any other club, clearly theres issues in the dressing room hence Bruno it would apoear  told to double down on his comnents, the owners need to be ruthless same as Howe should be , but it aint gonna happen.

 

[The College Dropout]

1 minute ago, Holmesy said:

Absolutely, but that doesn't explain why none of our players can keep possession, our set pieces are wank, our new signings can't control a ball and we keep conceding last minute goals. Big picture, yes, it has made us less potent and disrupted our playing style but you can't blame everything on Isak leaving. Our ability to put the ball in the back of the net has been impacted and i've no doubt if he was still here, we'd have picked up more points. But using the power of eyesight, it's pretty clear to see things that aren't right that have nothing to do with him leaving.

Part of my issues with the criticism is that some of these are longstanding things.

 

Our possesion stats this season are up .2% on last season. We've never been a possession side, why is it an issue for you now? 

 

9th for set piece goals scored. Hardly wank.

 

Our new signings aren't great and that's a culmination of poor leadership and lack of consistency and direction by the club. Howe has contributed to that but it's not his fault ultimately.

 

And yes the conceding last minute goals is bad.

[Andy]

17 minutes ago, Dr Venkman said:

 

Looking behind the language used here, it reads like what you're saying is we should judge new signings quickly? Or have I misinterpreted? It seems wholly reasonable to me to reserve judgment until new players have had time to adjust/coaching/etc. Especially given what we've seen from Howe and the coaching staff in the past?

 

And I'll continue to argue that lumping Elanga and Ramsey together doesn't stand up to even basic scrutiny. They're not the same.

 

I'm not saying we should judge quickly, but passing judgement on their contribution after half a season is reasonable when they're contributing to our poor form (or in the case of Ramsey, not contributing towards improving our form). 

 

Ramsey and Elanga aren't the same, I agree, but they have different problems. Ramsey was clearly a risk given his injury record and hit and miss form in recent years, and he also looks a bit of a bad fit for the way we're trying to play to me. He's had enough time at the club now to at least show SOMETHING, but all I've seen from him is: "looks tidy", which isn't really what we need at the moment. 

 

I think most of us would agree that we either needed a traditional "6" or a midfielder with a bit guile and creativity. It's more that he looks the wrong profile to me than that he's necessarily been bad on the pitch. 

[Benwell Lad]

EH has to stay and I'm pretty sure he continues to have full support where it matters.

It's been an awful season so far despite CL football and a cup QF, which sounds crazy as those things would have made it a brilliant season not so long ago.

He really has his work cut out to turn this around in the short term though with a continuing schedule of two games a week, more injuries to key players and underperforming new signings.

[Kid Icarus]

31 minutes ago, r0cafella said:

To clarify, the reason I reference the cup final is due to you mentioned in entitlement. Indeed that's all we've won since before most on here were born so what is this entitlement you speak of exactly? 

 

We've been absolutely honking on the road for what 12 months? That style of play that got us on the edge of our since is massively hit and miss nowadays to the point even the manager himself doesn't know what he's going to get. Does that inspire you with confidence?

 

I'm still Eddie Howe in, you can check the polls, I'm also one of the few who's actually laid my cards out exactly where I stand. 

 

Nobody is denying what Eddie has done for us in the past, nor should they it's an actual fact but football isn't played in the past you can ask Froggy if you don't believe me. 

 

@TheBrownBottle put it perfectly for me personally I support Newcastle united, not Bruno, not Eddie Howe, not PIF or Mike Ashley and this my viewpoints will always reflect what I personally feel is best for the club. 

 

The entitlement comes from the fact that there are people who now think we're above having the manager who delivered that 9 months ago, people who think constantly questioning everything he does with perfection as the benchmark is just being realistic or fair. What happened to faith and belief in someone we know has delivered consistently for the best part of 4 years?

 

It's a joke man. I'd understand it if it got to the point of blind faith, but we're talking about the man who took us from the brink of relegation to 4th, 7th, 5th, and a cup win. It's funny how zooming out to look at the bigger picture usually means 'our away form this year' and not -within the same year - winning a cup, qualifying for the Champions League for the second time in 3 years, or how we lost the focal point of our attack, lost our DoF on the eve of the transfer window, lost our CEO with no replacement for a year, had a huge squad turnover, and how the fallout from that was dumped on Howe's desk and he was expected to get on with it. It's myopic and selective as fuck.

 

Talking about what Howe's done as 'what he's done for us in the past' is a good example of that - the way that's presented is like he's here for his second stint as an over the hill manager, or Ranieri post-freak league win. This is the manager who's consistently delivered from the moment he walked into the club 4 years ago. 

Brownbottle's post was standard modern football fan fare - caring only about 'the club' - which invariably includes not caring about the things many would class as quantifying what the club is. I don't care about the manager, the players, the fans, the stadium, the atmosphere, the city - I just care about the club and what's best for it. Alright.

 

 

Edited December 17, 2025 by Kid Icarus

[Holmesy]

7 minutes ago, The College Dropout said:

Part of my issues with the criticism is that some of these are longstanding things.

 

Our possesion stats this season are up .2% on last season. We've never been a possession side, why is it an issue for you now? 

 

9th for set piece goals scored. Hardly wank.

 

Our new signings aren't great and that's a culmination of poor leadership and lack of consistency and direction by the club. Howe has contributed to that but it's not his fault ultimately.

 

And yes the conceding last minute goals is bad.

Because it's all contributing to our current situation.
We keep conceding last minute goals and we know this, so why aren't we working on keeping possession and managing games more effectively? 
We have one of the tallest squads in the league. Why are we only 9th for set piece goals, especially when we've hired a set piece coach? 

[r0cafella]

1 minute ago, Kid Icarus said:

 

The entitlement comes from the fact that there are people who now think we're above having the manager who delivered that 9 months ago, people who think constantly questioning everything he does with perfection as the benchmark is just being realistic or fair. What happened to faith and belief in someone we know has delivered consistently for the best part of 4 years?

 

It's a joke man. I'd understand it if it got to the point of blind faith, but we're talking about the man who took us from the brink of relegation to 4th, 7th, 5th, and a cup win. It's funny how zooming out to look at the bigger picture usually means 'our away form this year' and not -within the same year - winning a cup, qualifying for the Champions League for the second time in 3 years, or how we lost the focal point of our attack, lost our DoF on the eve of the transfer window, lost our CEO with no replacement for a year, had a huge squad turnover, and how the fallout from that was dumped on Howe's desk and he was expected to get on with it. It's myopic and selective as fuck.

 

Talking about what Howe's done as 'what he's done for us in the past' is a good example of that - the way that's presented is like he's here for his second stint as an over the hill manager, or Ranieri post-freak league win. This is the manager who's consistently delivered from the moment he walked into the club 4 years ago. 

Brownbottle's post was standard modern football fan fare - caring only about 'the club' - which invariably includes not caring about the things many would class as quantifying what the club is. I don't care about the manager, the players, the fans, the stadium, the atmosphere, the city - I just care about the club and what's best for it. Alright.

 

 

 

I don't think that's entitlement at all, again some folk will feel Eddie has taken us as far as they can, and this is the minority mind. Again nobody should questioning what has been done, it's a matter of fact and of course perfection isn't the benchmark if it was he'd be unemployed. 

 

Im not advocating him being sacked btw, but sometimes folk love to defend or post as if decisions made are beyond questioning which means we can basically get rid of this place as it's not needed. 

 

And again what he's done in the past is a statement or fact, you shouldn't infer from that sentence anymore than that I'm merely stating what has been done in the past is factual. 

 

I disagree with your point about Brownbottles point but this is tedious so not going to get into a debate. I would like to ask you however what's your line? Is there one? Eddie relegates us you still on board?

[huss9]

10 minutes ago, Kid Icarus said:

 

The entitlement comes from the fact that there are people who now think we're above having the manager who delivered that 9 months ago, people who think constantly questioning everything he does with perfection as the benchmark is just being realistic or fair. What happened to faith and belief in someone we know has delivered consistently for the best part of 4 years?

 

It's a joke man. I'd understand it if it got to the point of blind faith, but we're talking about the man who took us from the brink of relegation to 4th, 7th, 5th, and a cup win. It's funny how zooming out to look at the bigger picture usually means 'our away form this year' and not -within the same year - winning a cup, qualifying for the Champions League for the second time in 3 years, or how we lost the focal point of our attack, lost our DoF on the eve of the transfer window, lost our CEO with no replacement for a year, had a huge squad turnover, and how the fallout from that was dumped on Howe's desk and he was expected to get on with it. It's myopic and selective as fuck.

 

Talking about what Howe's done as 'what he's done for us in the past' is a good example of that - the way that's presented is like he's here for his second stint as an over the hill manager, or Ranieri post-freak league win. This is the manager who's consistently delivered from the moment he walked into the club 4 years ago. 

Brownbottle's post was standard modern football fan fare - caring only about 'the club' - which invariably includes not caring about the things many would class as quantifying what the club is. I don't care about the manager, the players, the fans, the stadium, the atmosphere, the city - I just care about the club and what's best for it. Alright.

 

 

 

no one has perfection as a benchmark.

and not many want Eddie out.

but this season has not been great.

 

[dcmk]

2 minutes ago, r0cafella said:

I don't think that's entitlement at all, again some folk will feel Eddie has taken us as far as they can, and this is the minority mind. 

 

Why would people think he has taken us as far as he can?  He's succeeded expectations every time until this point, he's beaten the best teams with inferior squads, won a cup with a weaker squad.  We have punched above our weight nearly his entire time here.

 

This season has been highly, highly unusual.  He always turns form around but there is some figuring out to do.  To lose patience with him now and appoint someone who potentially doesn't have a clue is reckless 

[r0cafella]

2 minutes ago, dcmk said:

 

Why would people think he has taken us as far as he can?  He's succeeded expectations every time until this point, he's beaten the best teams with inferior squads, won a cup with a weaker squad.  We have punched above our weight nearly his entire time here.

 

This season has been highly, highly unusual.  He always turns form around but there is some figuring out to do.  To lose patience with him now and appoint someone who potentially doesn't have a clue is reckless 

The performance over the last 12 months haven't been stellar for the most part, weve seemingly abandoned what made us good and the alternative isn't pretty. The manager has a lot of control over transfers and this last Window has been quite poor so far. Just a few reasons why some folk might feel that way. 

 

Personally I'm not sure. Willing to give him more time and hope he can turn it around. But again I don't take umbrage with those who continue to see nothing wrong or those questions things. 

[Terrymac1966]

37 minutes ago, Holmesy said:

Absolutely, but that doesn't explain why none of our players can keep possession, our set pieces are wank, our new signings can't control a ball and we keep conceding last minute goals. Big picture, yes, it has made us less potent and disrupted our playing style but you can't blame everything on Isak leaving. Our ability to put the ball in the back of the net has been impacted and i've no doubt if he was still here, we'd have picked up more points. But using the power of eyesight, it's pretty clear to see things that aren't right that have nothing to do with him leaving.

Well said that man 👍

[Kid Icarus]

16 minutes ago, r0cafella said:

I don't think that's entitlement at all, again some folk will feel Eddie has taken us as far as they can, and this is the minority mind. Again nobody should questioning what has been done, it's a matter of fact and of course perfection isn't the benchmark if it was he'd be unemployed. 

 

Im not advocating him being sacked btw, but sometimes folk love to defend or post as if decisions made are beyond questioning which means we can basically get rid of this place as it's not needed. 

 

And again what he's done in the past is a statement or fact, you shouldn't infer from that sentence anymore than that I'm merely stating what has been done in the past is factual. 

 

I disagree with your point about Brownbottles point but this is tedious so not going to get into a debate. I would like to ask you however what's your line? Is there one? Eddie relegates us you still on board?

 

I think you know what saying 'what he's done for us in the past' when he's our current manager and the past he's done things in was a matter of weeks and months ago reads like. Facts can still infer meaning through how they're presented. 

 

I was saying that perfection is the benchmark for not criticising amongst some of our fans, not the club's for whether to keep him. So he wouldn't necessarily be unemployed much in the same way that Pep sitting in 7th last season and Klopp sitting in 10th halfway through 22/23 didn't - albeit you can guarantee there'll have been a few Man City and Liverpool fans wondering whether they'd taken their clubs are far as they could...

 

In reality there is no line for me this season unless you get into pure fantasyland stuff. I back him and believe in him 100%.

 

 

Edited December 17, 2025 by Kid Icarus

[lovejoy]

54 minutes ago, r0cafella said:

To clarify, the reason I reference the cup final is due to you mentioned in entitlement. Indeed that's all we've won since before most on here were born so what is this entitlement you speak of exactly? 

 

We've been absolutely honking on the road for what 12 months? That style of play that got us on the edge of our since is massively hit and miss nowadays to the point even the manager himself doesn't know what he's going to get. Does that inspire you with confidence?

 

I'm still Eddie Howe in, you can check the polls, I'm also one of the few who's actually laid my cards out exactly where I stand. 

 

Nobody is denying what Eddie has done for us in the past, nor should they it's an actual fact but football isn't played in the past you can ask Froggy if you don't believe me. 

 

@TheBrownBottle put it perfectly for me personally I support Newcastle united, not Bruno, not Eddie Howe, not PIF or Mike Ashley and this my viewpoints will always reflect what I personally feel is best for the club. 

The 12 months thing is a myth really, it's been honking this season for sure, but wasn't last up until about mid april when we played Villa.

[r0cafella]

2 minutes ago, Kid Icarus said:

 

I think you know what saying 'what he's done for us in the past' when he's our current manager and the past he's done things in was a matter of weeks and months ago reads like. Facts can still infer meaning through how they're presented. 

 

Perfection is the benchmark amongst some of our fans, not the club, so he wouldn't necessarily be unemployed much in the same way that Pep sitting in 7th last season and Klopp sitting in 10th halfway through 22/23 didn't - albeit you can guarantee there'll have been a few Man City and Liverpool fans wondering whether they'd taken their clubs are far as they could...

 

In reality there is no line for me this season unless you get into pure fantasyland stuff. 

Fair enough I'm going to infer by fantasy land you mean relegation which you don't believe is a possibility (this is me clarifying not questioning). Which is fair thanks for answering with a straight bat. 

[lovejoy]

35 minutes ago, Andy said:

 

I'm not saying we should judge quickly, but passing judgement on their contribution after half a season is reasonable when they're contributing to our poor form (or in the case of Ramsey, not contributing towards improving our form). 

 

Ramsey and Elanga aren't the same, I agree, but they have different problems. Ramsey was clearly a risk given his injury record and hit and miss form in recent years, and he also looks a bit of a bad fit for the way we're trying to play to me. He's had enough time at the club now to at least show SOMETHING, but all I've seen from him is: "looks tidy", which isn't really what we need at the moment. 

 

I think most of us would agree that we either needed a traditional "6" or a midfielder with a bit guile and creativity. It's more that he looks the wrong profile to me than that he's necessarily been bad on the pitch. 

 

It isn't half a season for Ramsey though tbf, he's played the equivalent of about 4 or 5 games.

 

As I keep saying, i totally get the Elanga takes, but we've barely seen Ramsey and what we have seen of him is coming off the back of a pretty nasty injury.

[Holmesy]

15 minutes ago, Kid Icarus said:

 

The entitlement comes from the fact that there are people who now think we're above having the manager who delivered that 9 months ago, people who think constantly questioning everything he does with perfection as the benchmark is just being realistic or fair. What happened to faith and belief in someone we know has delivered consistently for the best part of 4 years?

 

It's a joke man. I'd understand it if it got to the point of blind faith, but we're talking about the man who took us from the brink of relegation to 4th, 7th, 5th, and a cup win. It's funny how zooming out to look at the bigger picture usually means 'our away form this year' and not -within the same year - winning a cup, qualifying for the Champions League for the second time in 3 years, or how we lost the focal point of our attack, lost our DoF on the eve of the transfer window, lost our CEO with no replacement for a year, had a huge squad turnover, and how the fallout from that was dumped on Howe's desk and he was expected to get on with it. It's myopic and selective as fuck.

 

Talking about what Howe's done as 'what he's done for us in the past' is a good example of that - the way that's presented is like he's here for his second stint as an over the hill manager, or Ranieri post-freak league win. This is the manager who's consistently delivered from the moment he walked into the club 4 years ago. 

Brownbottle's post was standard modern football fan fare - caring only about 'the club' - which invariably includes not caring about the things many would class as quantifying what the club is. I don't care about the manager, the players, the fans, the stadium, the atmosphere, the city - I just care about the club and what's best for it. Alright.

 

 

 

All pretty reasonable. However, when everything that led to that success for us no longer seems to exist (the drop-off being quite alarming in some cases), there is either serious cause for concern or we have faith, patience and accept that we're trying to transition to something completely different (which is entirely possible). We don't know which it is.
Hope says its the latter. If it is, and he does it successfully and has us kicking on again with a new identity, he will absolutely cement himself as one of the best managers around. 

However, inevitably there will always be fear that it's the former.

[Kid Icarus]

24 minutes ago, huss9 said:

no one has perfection as a benchmark.

and not many want Eddie out.

but this season has not been great.

 

 

In terms of whether he gets criticised amongst our fanbase or not I do think that that's the benchmark tbh. 

 

This season hasn't been great, but I think there are more than enough mitigating factors involved to not rush to the assumption that the issue is with Howe. 

 

 

Edited December 17, 2025 by Kid Icarus