Eddie Howe

[Elliottman]

11 minutes ago, Kilcline said:

Louise Taylor: "Eddie, it has been reported that the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia wants the United States and Israel to wipe Iran off the face of the earth so his country can become the dominant force in the Middle East. What discussions have you had with PIF about this and what are you doing to ensure Saudi Arabia helps to keep the peace around the Strait of Hormuz?" 

 

I read that in her voice and it was perfect literature. 

[TRon]

11 minutes ago, Kilcline said:

Louise Taylor: "Eddie, it has been reported that the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia wants the United States and Israel to wipe Iran off the face of the earth so his country can become the dominant force in the Middle East. What discussions have you had with PIF about this and what are you doing to ensure Saudi Arabia helps to keep the peace around the Strait of Hormuz?" 

 

 

Fair question in my book. No doubt crafty Eddie will duck the issue in his normal deadbat fashion. 

[NSG]

 

[Miggys First Goal]

Quote

Eddie Howe has been given private assurances that his position as Newcastle United head coach is safe after comments from the club’s chief executive, David Hopkinson, last week appeared to cast doubt on his future.

 

The Times has learnt that Howe has been reassured that the context of the comments were not meant to undermine his role, which came after a 2-1 defeat by local rivals Sunderland at St James’ Park, when both he and his players were jeered by the home fans at the full-time whistle.

 

Hopkinson, speaking at a briefing about the club’s accounts, said at the time: “I don’t have a stance on [Howe’s] future. What I can tell you is that the derby loss hurt. Eddie’s our manager. I expect to have a great run to the end of the season and we’ll talk about the future when it’s time.

 

“We are not looking to make a change at the moment. We are still in the midst of the season.”
 

Those comments are believed to have initially taken the Newcastle head coach aback, given the apparent lack of support in the most difficult spell of his four and a half years in charge.

 

Hopkinson is believed to have spoken to Howe since those comments in an effort to reassure him that he had not intended to create speculation about his future or that he would not be supported at boardroom level, where he is extremely well thought of. That has calmed the situation, with Howe now fully committed to preparing his team for their final seven games of the campaign, starting away to Crystal Palace on Sunday.

 

The 48-year-old is expected to be given a key role in a summer rebuild, with scouts told to look at every single position before an overhaul of the first-team squad.

 

Howe was appointed after the Saudi takeover of the club in 2021 and signed a new deal in 2023, which is thought to run until 2028. There is no suggestion that Newcastle are contemplating ending an association with the manager who has twice led them into the Champions League, while also guiding them to a first major domestic trophy for 70 years, last season’s Carabao Cup.

 

This year has been Howe’s most difficult at the club, however, and has led to vocal criticism at St James’ Park after defeats by Brentford in February and Sunderland last month. The derby day loss came after Newcastle were knocked out of the FA Cup by Manchester City and exited the Champions League at the round-of-16 stage with a 8-3 aggregate defeat by Barcelona.

 

They sit 12th in the Premier League table, seven points behind fifth-placed Liverpool in the final Champions League qualification place. This year’s run to the knockout phase of that competition, for the first time in Newcastle’s history, has earned the club about £65million.

 

Howe and his players were given time off after the defeat by Sunderland three weeks ago, which ended a relentless run of 19 games in just over two months across four competitions. After that loss on March 22, which came four days after a 7-2 hammering in the Nou Camp by Barcelona, Howe reaffirmed his commitment to staying in post.

 

“I’m fully committed to the job,” he said. “I’m disappointed in my delivery in the last week.

 

“It was very painful. Most of all, painful for our supporters. They’re the ones I think about now. I understand the reaction [when he and his players were jeered off]. It’s very easy to look at all bad, but I don’t think we are too far away.

 

“We’ve had good bits, we’ve had bad bits but some of the fixtures we’ve had, particularly in recent weeks, have been unrelenting to us.”

 

 

 

Edited April 9 by Miggys First Goal

[Yorkie]

The optimist in me hoped that Hopkinson had primed Howe to expect some non-committal - essentially performative - comments to the press, given the Sunderland defeat. 

 

If he's had to give assurances since the comments then it turns out he was just careless as fuck. Hopefully he either wises up or shuts up.

[Danh1]

Big summer ahead for everyone involved. We need to try and move quickly (rofl) and I’d like to think we have a plan as to moving on some of the shite in the squad and bringing in players that will help us develop into a better footballing side.

 

Re the above, if we end up having a limp end to the season it’ll be interesting to see if Hardy’s right. 

[Scoot]

17 minutes ago, NSG said:

 

 

Good news. 

[madras]

Anyone have an idea what Hopkinson was like with the press at other places? He didnt say anything particularly bad but the way our press plays on things and likes to set things up (we've no plans to sell someone=didnt say definitely not for sale then goad them into making a definitive hoping to drag them down later)

 

 

Edited April 9 by madras

[BennyBlanco]

The dreaded vote of confidence 

[Yorkie]

5 minutes ago, BennyBlanco said:

The dreaded vote of confidence 

 

Sort of, but reads more like he's had to clean up a mess of his own making imo.

 

Wherever you stand on Howe, it's clumsy as fuck by the CEO and he needs to get with the program. The press don't really give a shiny shite about your PowerPoint about the finances; whatever you say about the manager or individuals - that's what's going to print. Like I say, wise up or shut up.

[JT24]

5 minutes ago, Yorkie said:

 

Sort of, but reads more like he's had to clean up a mess of his own making imo.

 

Wherever you stand on Howe, it's clumsy as fuck by the CEO and he needs to get with the program. The press don't really give a shiny shite about your PowerPoint about the finances; whatever you say about the manager or individuals - that's what's going to print. Like I say, wise up or shut up.

Bring in CEO press conferences so we can all view his silliness

[sushimonster85]

51 minutes ago, BennyBlanco said:

The dreaded vote of confidence 

 

Yeah, this doesn't read as that. More like the club is now tidying up comments he made. 

[McDog]

I don't believe his comments needed tidying up. to be honest. I hope Eddie who I absolutely want to stay doesn't get upset every single time he hears something he doesn't like.

[Mole]

I think even Eddie himself would admit the results in the league at least have not been good enough. A CEO thinking that too is fine, the issue to me at least came when he said it publicly and put a lot of emphasis on the Sunderland results specifically. When in reality the results haven't been good enough, regardless of what happened in both derby games this year.

[Interpolic]

35 minutes ago, McDog said:

I don't believe his comments needed tidying up. to be honest. I hope Eddie who I absolutely want to stay doesn't get upset every single time he hears something he doesn't like.

 

It's very uncommon for a CEO to dig their own manager out in the press, for good reason. 

[McDog]

4 minutes ago, Interpolic said:

 

It's very uncommon for a CEO to dig their own manager out in the press, for good reason. 

 

 

Could be a US/UK thing. I've heard it a million times in the US. 

[The Prophet]

Martin Hardy is about as reliable as my sphincter during a bout of norovirus.

 

Hopkinson could well be a moron, but this report isn't evidence of it.

[Decky]

17 hours ago, Kilcline said:

Louise Taylor: "Eddie, it has been reported that the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia wants the United States and Israel to wipe Iran off the face of the earth so his country can become the dominant force in the Middle East. What discussions have you had with PIF about this and what are you doing to ensure Saudi Arabia helps to keep the peace around the Strait of Hormuz?" 

 

Someone is bound to mention the war aren't they? 

[Kilcline]

30 minutes ago, Decky said:

 

Someone is bound to mention the war aren't they? 

Passing up the Basil Fawlty tap in  ...hopefully limited to "You planned to take the players to Dubai for a few days and couldn't, did that impact on what you did?" but I wouldn't bet on it 

[Dr.Spaceman]

57 minutes ago, Decky said:

 

Someone is bound to mention the war aren't they? 

 

Luke will no doubt come out with some absolutely lifting craic about Trump

[AyeDubbleYoo]

11 hours ago, Yorkie said:

The optimist in me hoped that Hopkinson had primed Howe to expect some non-committal - essentially performative - comments to the press, given the Sunderland defeat. 

 

If he's had to give assurances since the comments then it turns out he was just careless as fuck. Hopefully he either wises up or shuts up.

I honestly think Hopkinson was just saying he doesn’t have a view on Howe because he doesn’t really need one at this point. As we’ve said, clumsy but not as damning as they’ve been reported. 
 

It’s the reporting that’s created the need for him to say something more reassuring. He probably didn’t see this coming initially. It’s more likely a reaction to the reports than any kind of change in opinion. 
 

Hopefully he’ll learn from it. 

 

 

Edited April 10 by AyeDubbleYoo

[Menace]

I hope his position is up for review at the end of the season. This season has been an absolute cluster fuck from all angles - I have zero faith in the higher ups getting someone more qualified in if they do decide to part ways with Howe. 

[Elma]

Just listened to his presser. Towards the end did one of the journos actually say, "Have you seeked…", or did I mishear that?

[SteV]

1 minute ago, Elma said:

Just listened to his presser. Towards the end did one of the journos actually say, "Have you seeked…", or did I mishear that?

It was Ryder….

[TRon]

38 minutes ago, Menace said:

I hope his position is up for review at the end of the season. This season has been an absolute cluster fuck from all angles - I have zero faith in the higher ups getting someone more qualified in if they do decide to part ways with Howe. 

 

 

If you have no faith in the higher ups getting someone more qualified, why would you want his position to be up for review?