Barnes23 Posted March 31 Share Posted March 31 2 minutes ago, deejeck said: Pretty fucking brutal that, where is that from? https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/c5yxl4l4k74o Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
1881 Posted March 31 Share Posted March 31 Newcastle United chief executive David Hopkinson says he does not have a stance on the future of head coach Eddie Howe, but the club are "not looking to make a change at the moment". Although Newcastle reached the last 16 of the Champions League, and progressed to the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup for a third time in four seasons, this has been a bruising campaign for Howe's side. After initially holding their own against Barcelona, Newcastle capitulated at the Nou Camp this month - suffering a 7-2 defeat - before losing 2-1 against bitter rivals Sunderland a few days later. Howe and his players were booed off by a section of supporters at St James' Park following the damaging Tyne-Wear derby loss, which has left Newcastle12th in the Premier League. But the hierarchy remains behind Howe, who led Newcastle to Champions League qualification in 2023 and 2025, and ended the club's seven-decade wait to win a major domestic trophy by lifting the EFL Cup last season. While his backing was hardly unequivocal, this week Hopkinson stressed Newcastle were currently "not having those conversations" about a change of manager. "I don't have a stance on his future," he said. "What I can tell you is that the derby loss hurt. "We take it seriously. There's nothing within us that thinks, 'Well, it's just three points and on we go'. It has resonated. "I spent a couple of hours in a one-on-one lunch recently with Eddie and we talked through a multitude of things, including that. "Eddie is our manager. I expect to have a great run to the end of the season here and we will talk about the future when it's time. "Right now, we're focused on this season's competition." 'Any player under contract is going to leave on our terms' Newcastle still have seven games to play this season as they bid to make a late push for a European spot. The club are planning for both eventualities in the transfer market, whether they qualify or miss out. Howe has been involved in planning for these scenarios alongside sporting director Ross Wilson, with another busy summer on the cards. Newcastle need to strengthen the ageing spine of the side while there are also doubts surrounding the long-term futures of a number of key players, including midfielder Sandro Tonali. The Italian effectively has four years left on his contract - if Newcastle trigger a 12-month extension, as expected - which puts the club in a strong position. But it was just last summer that Newcastle - eventually - buckled and sold top scorer Alexander Isak to Liverpool for a British-record £125m after he went "on strike" to force through a move to Anfield. Hopkinson was appointed a few weeks after Isak's exit and felt it was a "good sale" - even if Newcastle have struggled to adapt to life without the striker after spending a combined £124m on forwards Nick Woltemade and Yoane Wissa. Strategic player trading is clearly going to become a key part of Newcastle's model moving forward, but Hopkinson warned any individuals seeking a move will not simply get their way. "If an Isak-like scenario presents itself again, any player under contract is going to leave on our terms," he said. "We're going to maximise the opportunity that might represent for the club." Huge gap still to bridge Hopkinson was speaking following the release of the club's latest set of financial results for the year ending June 2025. The accounts detail how the sale of the leasehold to St James' Park and adjacent land to PZ Holdings Limited, a subsidiary company, contributed to the club posting a £34.7m profit after tax. The club insist this was carried out with a view to either redeveloping the stadium or building a new ground, rather than complying with the Premier League's outgoing profitability and sustainability rules (PSR). Newcastle's chief financial officer Simon Capper said "the motivation was very much to reorganise our property assets and get them into the correct legal boxes to allow us to go forward with our potential development and to facilitate that with financing". Newcastle ultimately announced club-record revenues of £335.3m, but still have a huge gap to bridge on the status quo. Liverpool, by comparison, generated £703m in the same period, while Manchester City brought in more in commercial revenue (£340.4m) than Newcastle raised in overall income. It is a timely reminder of the challenge Newcastle face to somehow realise Hopkinson's vision of competing for the biggest prizes by 2030. "When I think about our competitors, they are formidable and they have already got a head start on us, but all they've got is a head start on us and we've got a tremendous opportunity for growth right in front of us," he added. "We've used the phrase 'headroom' in terms of a player budget, but what I also look at is the commercial opportunity. We have significant headroom to catch up. "It means we've got work harder. We've got to work smarter with high conviction and energy every single day to capture that headroom. We've got to catch these guys." 'Hierarchy clearly expect strong finish' Analysis by Ciaran Kelly From the outside looking in, it may appear that Newcastle's season is as good as over. That is certainly not the view within the club. Not only will Howe be desperate to generate some momentum and finish the campaign on a high - the hierarchy, clearly, expect a strong return from the final seven games of the season. Newcastle will feel the financial hit of likely missing out on the Champions League, but qualifying for Europe remains a priority target. It is still a realistic one, too, with Newcastle just four points off seventh place as a relentless schedule finally eases. Newcastle were fighting on four fronts as recently as last month, but Howe's side will be afforded more recovery time and more time on the training pitches in the coming weeks. This is where Howe has previously come into his own, and Hopkinson maintained "we are not distracting ourselves with speculation about what we may or may not do in the summer". However, given the glowing terms chief executive has previously spoken about Howe, who he called a "special" manager in December, it was not exactly a resounding show of faith. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pixelphish Posted March 31 Share Posted March 31 When I wanted more communication, I didn't mean this... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AyeDubbleYoo Posted March 31 Share Posted March 31 Not great quotes but I’ll watch them spoken to see what the tone was like. Sounds very much like a CEO anyway. Sounds a bit like he’s trying to tell the fans he understands the derby loss. Which IMO is unnecessary but there you go. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kid Icarus Posted March 31 Share Posted March 31 Hopkinson has been a car crash nigh on every time he's opened his stupid fucking mouth. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holmesy Posted March 31 Share Posted March 31 (edited) Every manager should be under scrutiny all the time. The board can't be sentimental about this stuff when hundreds of millions of pounds are at stake every season - it's common fucking sense. They will be asking the same questions some of us are - long term, is this the right man to help us meet our goals? What happens when we get into Europe again? Is he the right man to work in this hierarchical structure? If we invest in youth, will he give them a path into the first team? Not necessarily those questions, but questions like them, but they'll be doing it without the emotion of a football fan. I agree those comments aren't great and he could clearly do with some PR/media training, but take your personal feelings towards Eddie out of it and is there actually anything wrong with what he is saying? If Steve Bruce was still the manager and DH came out and said that, would you have any complaints? Edited March 31 by Holmesy Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AyeDubbleYoo Posted March 31 Share Posted March 31 2 minutes ago, Holmesy said: Every manager should be under scrutiny all the time. The board can't be sentimental about this stuff when hundreds of millions of pounds are at stake every season - it's common fucking sense. They will be asking the same questions some of us are - long term, is this the right man to help us meet our goals? What happens when we get into Europe again? Is he the right man to work in this hierarchical structure? If we invest in youth, will he give them a path into the first team? Not necessarily those questions, but questions like them, but they'll be doing it without the emotion of a football fan. I agree those comments aren't great and he could clearly do with some PR/media training though but take your personal feelings towards Eddie out of it and is there actually anything wrong with what he is saying? If Steve Bruce was still the manager and DH came out and said that, would you have any complaints? That’s what I meant about he sounds like a CEO. I would prefer strong support of Howe in this instance but overall he sounds (from the written quotes) like he’s viewing it from the ‘right’ place for his job. I really hope the derby loss isn’t factoring too much into the conversation though. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wallsendmag Posted March 31 Share Posted March 31 Whilst I have no problem with what he's said, as Howe should definitely be under scrutiny after what he's spent, the performances he's delivered this season and the 2 farcical derby displays (I'll gloss over the 7-2 defeat for now) I find the timing a bit strange and wonder if he would have been better waiting until the end of May when the dust has settled on the season and we can see exactly how we've done. The cynic in me thinks he's done this to try to somehow appease a discontented fanbase after what happened a week past Sunday. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AyeDubbleYoo Posted March 31 Share Posted March 31 (edited) For Thick of It fans, this reminds me of when the minister says the PM is the man “for the moment” instead of “of the moment” Edited March 31 by AyeDubbleYoo Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holmesy Posted March 31 Share Posted March 31 1 minute ago, AyeDubbleYoo said: That’s what I meant about he sounds like a CEO. I would prefer strong support of Howe in this instance but overall he sounds (from the written quotes) like he’s viewing it from the ‘right’ place for his job. I really hope the derby loss isn’t factoring too much into the conversation though. That's exactly it, he sounds like a cold, functional CEO which is exactly how it should be. Most CEOs i've worked with are arseholes in one way or another but they're in post because they're efficient, ruthless, effective, and able to work without emotion. They work on facts, and probably look at objectives met and missed over a quarterly period, not "Eddie won us the cup last year". Put some of us in charge and Eddie would either have been sacked by now or have a 15 year contract and a massive pay rise. Like it or not, we're a business and we're being run that way. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miggys First Goal Posted March 31 Share Posted March 31 So basically Eddie has 7 cup finals coming up. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Milburn Posted March 31 Share Posted March 31 That’s corporate speak for: “perform now or we decide in May.” “Not looking to make a change at the moment” isn’t backing, it’s buying time. The last seven games of this season is the review, whether they say it or not. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
OpenC Posted March 31 Share Posted March 31 votes of confidence are bad enough, this isn't even one of them Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wallsendmag Posted March 31 Share Posted March 31 1 minute ago, Milburn said: That’s corporate speak for: “perform now or we decide in May.” “Not looking to make a change at the moment” isn’t backing, it’s buying time. The last seven games of this season is the review, whether they say it or not. It always was tbf. In a week where we shipped 7 goals in 1 match and didn't turn up yet again in the Derby the remaining games were always going to take on much greater significance. I think he needs to win at least 5 of them and then hope that's enough for some form of European football next season. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TBG Posted March 31 Share Posted March 31 Some difficult quotes for those wanting Howe out. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dokko Posted March 31 Share Posted March 31 5 minutes ago, Miggys First Goal said: So basically Eddie has 7 cup finals coming up. He's been put on an action plan. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Prontonise Posted March 31 Share Posted March 31 Not good quotes that by the CEO. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Milburn Posted March 31 Share Posted March 31 13 minutes ago, TBG said: Some difficult quotes for those wanting Howe out. Yeah, real vote of confidence that… Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
astraguy Posted March 31 Share Posted March 31 What an idiot, Eddie has done more for this club then he has Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
OpenC Posted March 31 Share Posted March 31 Louise Taylor loving this in The Guardian, can't link it from work Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kid Icarus Posted March 31 Share Posted March 31 I thought Eales's shtick was bad, and it was, but Jesus, I don't think there's been a moment where Hopkinson has said anything that's filled me with confidence, even when it was standard marketing guff. Not a fan of him so far. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kimbo Posted March 31 Share Posted March 31 Saying it publicly is questionable and not really necessary, but then we complain about lack of communication. It’s no surprise if the ownership is questioning things after last summers spending and this seasons performances. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robbo2 Posted March 31 Share Posted March 31 Taking a couple of hours for lunch? Skiving, Howe out imo Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Superior Acuña Posted March 31 Share Posted March 31 Grim, Eddie can't be happy with that. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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