Eddie Howe

[The College Dropout]

54 minutes ago, lovejoy said:

 

Yeah, but his injury was from impact, it could happen to anyone, he's been desperately unlucky really.

 

I do take the point, but i'll reserve judgement on Ramsey until we've seen a lot more of him. I think he can be great for us, but let's see.

 

 

I no longer believe this over the long-term. Well not the luck element but there are patterns. Some players rarely being injured and some players always being injured is like systemic "luck". Some times it's their bodies, the composition, their lifestyle or simply mentality or a combination.

 

I don't think it's luck that Ronaldo & Messi have been able to play so many games. Or even Bruno Fernandes, Casemiro or Frank Lampard. Or Shearer bouncig back from a couple major injuries.

 

 

Edited December 17, 2025 by The College Dropout

[AyeDubbleYoo]

1 hour ago, Andy said:

If you sign a player with a track record for struggling with injuries, and he gets injured, the signing is up for scrutiny. The squad has been let down by him being unavailable and it has impacted our results, whether it's on purpose or not is completely irrelevant to the debate. 

 

I thought you were saying he had personally let us down. 

[Collage]

51 minutes ago, Interpolic said:

 

It comes back to credit in the bank for me, and Howe has mountains of it.  He has overcome every challenge and then some so far, and he represents the club magnificently.

 

We are top-8 revenue and started from an awful foundation.  The amount of adversity he had to battle through last summer meant we were always likely to experience growing pains this season.  One season falling short of that top-8 par would not say to me we need to make a change. 

 

The amount of utter shite we've seen at NUFC over many years, I'd be furious if we dropped him when we're clearly on to a good thing.  Not least cos I am almost certain we'd go downhill and he'd do brilliantly elsewhere.

 Agreed.

Only two minor concerns for me. 1) Our relentless attacking style that made us unique and thrilling to watch is gone, can he revive it, does he want to revive it or has he lost faith in it being the way forward? and 2) I believe a proper DoF/sporting director is needed and am yet to be convinced Wilson is that man, can Howe work under one or does he demand total control?

[Andy]

10 minutes ago, AyeDubbleYoo said:

 

I thought you were saying he had personally let us down. 

 

You have personally let me down by thinking that

[AyeDubbleYoo]

5 minutes ago, Collage said:

 Agreed.

Only two minor concerns for me. 1) Our relentless attacking style that made us unique and thrilling to watch is gone, can he revive it, does he want to revive it or has he lost faith in it being the way forward? and 2) I believe a proper DoF/sporting director is needed and am yet to be convinced Wilson is that man, can Howe work under one or does he demand total control?

 

If Howe demands total control he'll never get any higher in management. That's just not how modern football clubs work. 

 

Like I've said before, he's a young manager not a dinosaur, maybe people think he's a PFM just because he's English? I can't believe he's that ignorant of the way football is going. It's contrary to what we know about him being an intelligent guy who wants to learn and develop. 

 

 

Edited December 17, 2025 by AyeDubbleYoo

[AyeDubbleYoo]

18 minutes ago, The College Dropout said:

I no longer believe this over the long-term. Well not the luck element but there are patterns. Some players rarely being injured and some players always being injured is like systemic "luck". Some times it's their bodies, the composition, their lifestyle or simply mentality or a combination.

 

I don't think it's luck that Ronaldo & Messi have been able to play so many games. Or even Bruno Fernandes, Casemiro or Frank Lampard. Or Shearer bouncig back from a couple major injuries.

 

Equally it could be that those players you mention just didn't get the wrong injuries at the wrong time. 

 

Even if it is related to their bodies, that's luck in itself to have a body that is prone to getting hurt. 

 

Of course nothing is in a vacuum, players should and do do work to protect themselves from injuries and so do the staff around them. I just think we have this weird way of assigning person blame to people who are injured, which is probably 99% not deserved. 

[Andy]

20 minutes ago, AyeDubbleYoo said:

 

Equally it could be that those players you mention just didn't get the wrong injuries at the wrong time. 

 

Even if it is related to their bodies, that's luck in itself to have a body that is prone to getting hurt. 

 

Of course nothing is in a vacuum, players should and do do work to protect themselves from injuries and so do the staff around them. I just think we have this weird way of assigning person blame to people who are injured, which is probably 99% not deserved. 

 

Get what you're saying, but if a club signed Joe Willock off us and he immediately struggled to find form due to injuries, even unrelated to injuries he'd had previously, we'd all think "how the fuck didn't they see that coming?"

 

Whether it's bad luck or a genetic disposition to suffer more injuries (or literally just being less inclined to play through knocks that other players would play through), it's just a fact that injury prone players only tend to become more and more injury prone as they get older, it rarely goes in the other direction. 

[Collage]

29 minutes ago, AyeDubbleYoo said:

 

If Howe demands total control he'll never get any higher in management. That's just not how modern football clubs work. 

 

Like I've said before, he's a young manager not a dinosaur, maybe people think he's a PFM just because he's English? I can't believe he's that ignorant of the way football is going. It's contrary to what we know about him being an intelligent guy who wants to learn and develop. 

 

 

 

Of course, not total control, but he has been described as a control freak. Said to be a source of conflict with the Bournemouth board, and a reason for leaving. We've discussed it plenty on here as well.

EDIT: Don't know where you got the PFM/dinosaur talk from, mind

 

 

Edited December 17, 2025 by Collage

[500bhp]

16 hours ago, Lazarus said:

Writing off signings after 6 months....and not even that actually is classic forum knee jerk. 

 

If Howe can find a way to make Almiron and Murph useful he can absolutely find a way for Elanga and Ramsey. 

 

Remember, Howe and his staff will be looking at how he can make the SQUAD a more rounded threat not just individual players.

The thing is though we significantly overpaid for Ramsey and Elanga because they are PL ready, or so we were told. They should not need easing in or bedding in.

 

The irony being we have signed many non-PL players who have been dropped straight in and been very good or class from the start. Thiaw, Big Nick, Isak's debut at Anfield, Botman. Even Bruno who in my view didn't need a 4 week introduction, you could see his class from the very first game as a sub. 

[Whitley mag]

15 minutes ago, 500bhp said:

The thing is though we significantly overpaid for Ramsey and Elanga because they are PL ready, or so we were told. They should not need easing in or bedding in.

 

The irony being we have signed many non-PL players who have been dropped straight in and been very good or class from the start. Thiaw, Big Nick, Isak's debut at Anfield, Botman. Even Bruno who in my view didn't need a 4 week introduction, you could see his class from the very first game as a sub. 

I doubt he’d have the nerve to mention PL experience ever again after this summer. 
 

You’d hope lessons have been learnt and won’t be repeated again.

[Lazarus]

17 minutes ago, 500bhp said:

The thing is though we significantly overpaid for Ramsey and Elanga because they are PL ready, or so we were told. They should not need easing in or bedding in.

 

The irony being we have signed many non-PL players who have been dropped straight in and been very good or class from the start. Thiaw, Big Nick, Isak's debut at Anfield, Botman. Even Bruno who in my view didn't need a 4 week introduction, you could see his class from the very first game as a sub. 

 

I realise all that but every player is different. Maybe theres something is their private lives that not quite settled. 

 

Or maybe they cant get their favourite coffee beans up here. 

[Lush Vlad]

1 hour ago, The College Dropout said:

I no longer believe this over the long-term. Well not the luck element but there are patterns. Some players rarely being injured and some players always being injured is like systemic "luck". Some times it's their bodies, the composition, their lifestyle or simply mentality or a combination.

 

I don't think it's luck that Ronaldo & Messi have been able to play so many games. Or even Bruno Fernandes, Casemiro or Frank Lampard. Or Shearer bouncig back from a couple major injuries.

 

 

 

You missed ‘of’. 
 

You’re not a Yank, FFS. At least I don’t think you are  

[Robster]

1 hour ago, Andy said:

 

He still has a track record for picking them up, some players are just like that. 

 

This all an aside to the wider point I was making anyway (since Ian responded to the least relevant part of my post), which is that he has never been the style of player that I felt we needed, and that we shouldn't be signing players with a reliance on them being "Howe'd". His performances so far when he's been available have reinforced that. 

Genuine question, does this suggest "having a track record for picking them up" ?

 

[AyeDubbleYoo]

28 minutes ago, Collage said:

Of course, not total control, but he has been described as a control freak. Said to be a source of conflict with the Bournemouth board, and a reason for leaving. We've discussed it plenty on here as well.

EDIT: Don't know where you got the PFM/dinosaur talk from, mind

 

Well the kind of person who would want total control in 2025 is a dinosaur, because they would be working with a completely outdated view of how a football club's recruitment can be done. 

[Lush Vlad]

2 minutes ago, Robster said:

Genuine question, does this suggest "having a track record for picking them up" ?

 

Aren’t they on about Ramsey?

[Robster]

7 minutes ago, Lush Vlad said:

Aren’t they on about Ramsey?

Ah, sorry if they are.

Insert 'Homer going back into the hedge' GIF

[Interpolic]

3 hours ago, r0cafella said:

 

I must say however that the utter dross we witnessed for many a year came under an ownership who was engaged in active self harm, now we aren't where we need to be but personally speaking I can't compare what's happening now to what happened during that reign. 

 

We also saw mediocre periods under Hall/Shepherd, when the club was seemingly trying their best. And we've seen 'big six' clubs in recent years being seriously mismanaged when seemingly trying their best. It's not a given that success will follow. 

 

There's an argument that Howe has held it all together for us. The best season in the club's recent history came off the back of no major squad additions for 2 years. This is all nuance that everyone's aware of, yet he often doesn't seem to be given the benefit of the doubt. 

[LionOfGosforth]

6 minutes ago, Interpolic said:

 

We also saw mediocre periods under Hall/Shepherd, when the club was seemingly trying their best. And we've seen 'big six' clubs in recent years being seriously mismanaged when seemingly trying their best. It's not a given that success will follow. 

 

There's an argument that Howe has held it all together for us. The best season in the club's recent history came off the back of no major squad additions for 2 years. This is all nuance that everyone's aware of, yet he often doesn't seem to be given the benefit of the doubt. 

 

Excellent point, always worth recalling and something that is rarely acknowledged.

[The College Dropout]

1 hour ago, AyeDubbleYoo said:

 

Equally it could be that those players you mention just didn't get the wrong injuries at the wrong time. 

 

Even if it is related to their bodies, that's luck in itself to have a body that is prone to getting hurt. 

 

Of course nothing is in a vacuum, players should and do do work to protect themselves from injuries and so do the staff around them. I just think we have this weird way of assigning person blame to people who are injured, which is probably 99% not deserved. 

That's the core of my point. I don't think that is purely luck. The only luck part is composition/physical genetics. But like.. mentality (might be genetic too), professionalism, lifestyle etc. is probably a bigger factor.

[nufcjmc]

3 minutes ago, The College Dropout said:

That's the core of my point. I don't think that is purely luck. The only luck part is composition/physical genetics. But like.. mentality (might be genetic too), professionalism, lifestyle etc. is probably a bigger factor.

So we saying kinder Buenos give Bruno longevity 😉

[lovejoy]

2 hours ago, The College Dropout said:

I no longer believe this over the long-term. Well not the luck element but there are patterns. Some players rarely being injured and some players always being injured is like systemic "luck". Some times it's their bodies, the composition, their lifestyle or simply mentality or a combination.

 

I don't think it's luck that Ronaldo & Messi have been able to play so many games. Or even Bruno Fernandes, Casemiro or Frank Lampard. Or Shearer bouncig back from a couple major injuries.

 

 

 

 

Genuine question, how could he have avoided Longstaff doing him in the game against Leeds?

[Kanj]

i have genuine questions of our owns after having sat thru all the shit years that they do not have any bit of patience of rocky periods during a clearly talented manager's tenure and not look at the circumstances that got us here and the impact of those incidents. You don't just chop and change things for the sake of it based on short term thinking, and yes, that includes being upset about away form for 12 months. The body of Howe's work has been top 7 in the league; league cup has been quaterfinal 4 seasons in a row, 2 ending up with final appearances and 1 trophy, 2 CL births, countless memories and such.  I prefer stability and trusting the man to put in the time and work to get it right over the medium and long term. 

[Erikse]

1 hour ago, AyeDubbleYoo said:

 

Equally it could be that those players you mention just didn't get the wrong injuries at the wrong time. 

 

Even if it is related to their bodies, that's luck in itself to have a body that is prone to getting hurt. 

 

Of course nothing is in a vacuum, players should and do do work to protect themselves from injuries and so do the staff around them. I just think we have this weird way of assigning person blame to people who are injured, which is probably 99% not deserved. 

 

Haaland was getting a lot of muscular injuries at BVB. He improved his lifestyle, and trained (and played) in a different way at Man City (with different physios and coaching staff), and now he's not prone to those type of injuries anymore. That's not luck.

 

 

Edited December 17, 2025 by Erikse

[lovejoy]

2 hours ago, The College Dropout said:

I no longer believe this over the long-term. Well not the luck element but there are patterns. Some players rarely being injured and some players always being injured is like systemic "luck". Some times it's their bodies, the composition, their lifestyle or simply mentality or a combination.

 

I don't think it's luck that Ronaldo & Messi have been able to play so many games. Or even Bruno Fernandes, Casemiro or Frank Lampard. Or Shearer bouncig back from a couple major injuries.

 

 

 

 

Ronaldo being always available doesn’t mean he wasn’t lucky btw it just means he never got hit with the kind of bad luck moment that plenty of others have had.

He absolutely could have done. Lucas Neill nearly did him, I rmemeber  Lampard caught him badly as wel, thats just off the top of my head. Any of those could’ve been a Ramsey at Stoke situation. That’s got nothing to do with genetics, sleep, diet or mentality, it’s just pure randomness in a contact sport.
 

Ramseys injury at Leeds is a prime example. No amount of preparation, stretching, discipline or body composition stops that happening. It’s either someone smashes you/lands on you wrong or they don’t.

I agree if we are talking about muscle injuries and the likes, but in this instance, we're not.
 

 

 

Edited December 17, 2025 by lovejoy

[lovejoy]

1 minute ago, Erikse said:

 

Haaland was getting a lot of muscular injuries at BVB. He improved his lifestyle, and trained (and played) in a different way at Man City (with different physios and coaching staff), and now he's not prone to those anymore. That's not luck.

why are you talking about muscle injuries? thats not what ramsey got here, it has nowt to do with it.

 

Nobody would be arguing if we were on about muscle injuries, but we're not.


edit: sorry, thought this was in response to me

 

 

Edited December 17, 2025 by lovejoy