Eddie Howe

[Jesse Pinkman]

3 minutes ago, Armchair Pundit said:

 

Don't you think a large part of the team not being able to handle being in Europe was ever so slightly affected by the following:

• An aging team of players who desperately needed reinforcement, not just for those aging players, but also for quality in depth to cover the extra games
• The team losing it's top striker and backup striker, who were replaced at the very end of the transfer window, with no pre-season
• The new players we did get in having reduced training time to get them onboard with the way the team plays and the intricacies of any tactics used
• Injuries to key players, adding to the stretching of the already thin, established squad

I must admit, this season has been wearing and I have my frustrations with Eddie's insistence on only having a Plan A, but I'm still reluctant to bin him off after having one poor league season out of four, especially when during said season we still got to the latter stages of all cup comps that we were in.

Don’t pretty much every team outside of th cartel 6 go through this every year as well? Bournemouth and Palace all lost star players (not just one) and have kicked on just fine. 

[Mattoon]

21 minutes ago, TheBrownBottle said:

The Ferguson example isn’t a good one at all, though - it effectively is from a previous era, when Man Utd’s annual turnover was less than they pay salary for a midfielder.  It isn’t ’a modern day example’ - Ferguson would’ve been sacked long before 90/91 in the modern era.  Ferguson’s previous track record also dwarfed someone like Howe’s - the Scottish top flight was a much higher standard back then, winning two titles and European trophy (beating R Madrid in the final) is just light years away from Howe (not a criticism of Howe, but there seems to be a lot of assumptions that Howe is on that level.  He patently isn’t). 
 

Howe’s transfers and the team’s performances - his responsibility - are liable to cost the club a lot of money (it isn’t melodramatic to say hundreds of millions).  He’s had far more rope than most would have.   He’s been given a shit hand by the owners, whose absenteeism has allowed this shit show to occur.  But the players he signed and has failed to draft into his side remains his responsibility - they may not have been his first choices, but he signed three of the four most expensive players’ in the club’s history last summer, and this isn’t good enough.  

 

What was the other option though after missing out on so many players? Sign no one, again? He had to take risks and they didn't pay off, the Wissa one being probably the lowest risk that turned out to be the worst result. I'm not saying he's blameless but its been a rough 12 months which ever way you lace it.

[Chicken Dancer]

1 minute ago, Armchair Pundit said:

The team losing it's top striker and backup striker, who were replaced at the very end of the transfer window, with no pre-season

Of course, it would have an impact on any team in the world. But who truly believed Isak would kick another ball for us after he missed that friendly at Parkhead?

 

He was sold on deadline day but he was gone long before that if we’re being honest. We’ve 5 games left and it’s still being used an excuse, yet the team that’s just beat us lost 3 or 4 of their 11 and haven’t looked much different.

 

They’ve played a lot less games of course and expectations are a lot different, but the two players we bought to replace said strikers sat on the bench today as we lumbered to yet another defeat. At what point will we stop using Isak as an excuse? Not a pop but a genuine question. If it gets to late 2026 and we’re still shite is it still his fault? We’ve had 33 games to figure it out and failed miserably. 
 

I also understand what you’re saying, I’m also reluctant to say he outright HAS to go, but I’m running out of excuses as to why we shouldn’t look in a different direction. The only thing keeping him here in my own mind his credit in the bank which is completely earned and fair enough. 

[TheInfiniteOdyssey]

I’m finding it difficult to really buy-into the ‘ceiling’ argument when we’re serving up performances like this. We just look like an absolutely shite, clueless footballing team.

[Geordie Ahmed]

1 minute ago, Jesse Pinkman said:

Don’t pretty much every team outside of th cartel 6 go through this every year as well? Bournemouth and Palace all lost star players (not just one) and have kicked on just fine. 

Bournemouth are only 2 wins away from us, that too from a late winner, how have they fared in the other 3 competitions?

[Armchair Pundit]

9 minutes ago, LionOfGosforth said:

 

What do you think our ceiling is under the current financial rules?

 

Personally, I think it's pretty obvious that the uncompetitive and restrictive financial rules are the biggest issue for teams like us to kick on and catch the established legacy clubs up. They're clearly there for a reason and it's not to protect smaller teams going out of business if their owners leave.

 

We can't say we shouldn't be able to use PSR as an excuse due to money we spent last summer, because our team was held back and hammered down to championship levels for a long time, without investment - a wound that still has an effect even after this long. We're slowly regaining commercial revenue, etc, but the squad itself still requires massive investment, to get to the level where we could adequately compete on all fronts every year, until then, something has to give and this season it's been the league. It's not just words when people say we, and Eddie in particular, have been victims of our own recent over-achievements.

[Mahoneys Tache]

Not bait but; the Isak carry on caused all

sorts of shit with ripples still moving now.  It was bound to affect the season to an extent. But wouldn’t a really world class manager have found a way to

resolve it? 

[TheBrownBottle]

2 minutes ago, Mattoon said:

 

What was the other option though after missing out on so many players? Sign no one, again? He had to take risks and they didn't pay off, the Wissa one being probably the lowest risk that turned out to be the worst result. I'm not saying he's blameless but its been a rough 12 months which ever way you lace it.

We clearly were able to spend £55m on a replacement back up striker - something which a dozen PL managers would kill to be able to do.  Are we seriously thinking that there just were no options available anywhere in world football for £55m or less?  That a professional football manager paid millions for his expertise just wasn’t aware of any other options at CF?

[Toon No9]

1 hour ago, Jesse Pinkman said:

Can any Eddie Howe in fans tell me why he isn’t using Woltemade, one of the top strikers in Europe, or Wissa, a striker that scored circa 20 goals in the PL last season, and instead is using our third choice striker or a winger up top for over half the season? 
 

Why isn’t Howe being dragged over the coals for this? He’s just wasted over £100m for the club. With talented players being under utilised.

 

 

 

He has played Woltemade earlier but he's not been good, Wissa even worse. Osula has scored two games in a row. Can't say Howe has done wrong there.

 

Howe is not the problem imho!

[Gawalls]

10 minutes ago, Jesse Pinkman said:

Don’t pretty much every team outside of th cartel 6 go through this every year as well? Bournemouth and Palace all lost star players (not just one) and have kicked on just fine. 

And Brentford, they lost their manager, mbeumi and wissa (40 goal involvements between them last season), their captain and their starting keeper. On top of this they lost 4 other starters, they spent only ,£90m and currently sit in 7tb with just goal difference stopping them from going 6th.

 

 

Edited April 18 by Gawalls

[LionOfGosforth]

1 minute ago, Mahoneys Tache said:

Not bait but; the Isak carry on caused all

sorts of shit with ripples still moving now.  It was bound to affect the season to an extent. But wouldn’t a really world class manager have found a way to

resolve it? 

 

Don't think we'll ever know for sure but we'd have probably been 6 or 8 places higher with even a half decent striker up top all season. Whether keeping Wolt up top all season was the answer, I don't know but someone like Delap or Pedro would have surely grabbed a few more goals than our insipid strikers. Basically anyone but Wissa who has been a disaster. We're only 6pts from being in the shake-up after pissing away countless points.

[TheBrownBottle]

5 minutes ago, Mahoneys Tache said:

Not bait but; the Isak carry on caused all

sorts of shit with ripples still moving now.  It was bound to affect the season to an extent. But wouldn’t a really world class manager have found a way to

resolve it? 

Palace and Brentford had similar happen to them last summer, but I don’t see constant reference to it.  

[Kimbo]

I hope we get over the Isak ordeal by the time the next season starts.

[Mattoon]

Just now, TheBrownBottle said:

We clearly were able to spend £55m on a replacement back up striker - something which a dozen PL managers would kill to be able to do.  Are we seriously thinking that there just were no options available anywhere in world football for £55m or less?  That a professional football manager paid millions for his expertise just wasn’t aware of any other options at CF?

 

Joao Pedro

Liam Delap

Hugo Ekitike

Benjamin Sesko

Hell we even threw the kitchen sink at Isak to make him stay, he had probably 36hrs to get someone through the door at that point and let's not pretend no one thought Wissa was anything but a sure fire bet for goals albeit an expensive acquisition in a desperate situation.

[Armchair Pundit]

For me, it just feels really sad that there's people that are so willing to bin Eddie off, after everything, following a single poor season in the league - especially considering every cup comp in this same season had the latter stages reached.

 

I'm not saying I'm happy with our performances or league position, far from it, but I'd far rather take a more cautious, thought out approach, giving Eddie time to fix things with a decent summer window. I truly think it'd be a mistake right now to rush headlong into bringing in a new manager, with all the upheaval to the club itself and players that would come with it.

[LionOfGosforth]

Just now, Kimbo said:

I hope we get over the Isak ordeal by the time the next season starts.

 

Think we'd have gotten over it quite quickly if we'd managed to get any of our first choice strikers before having to go down the list. Pedro, Delap, Ekitike, Sesko, any of them would have fared better than Wissa.

[Hudson]

Don’t forget we tried to sign Strand Larsen for £55 million, another bang average player. 

[Armchair Pundit]

Just now, Hudson said:

Don’t forget we tried to sign Strand Larsen for £55 million, another bang average player. 

 

That's right, how many bang average players that we've shown an interest in have suddenly had their value sky rocket? There's no way Wissa was worth the money we paid for him, Strand Larsen was another example of a club trying to fleece us because they knew we were desperate.

[Stuy_O]

Regardless of who's been bought and sold, we are a lifeless football team, and arguably play the worst football in the league. I will take all considerations into account but still be of the opinion that what we're serving up is abysmal. 

 

I saw Eddie say he's still got the fire to succeed at Newcastle but his eyes told a different story to me. 

[Gawalls]

9 minutes ago, Mattoon said:

 

Joao Pedro

Liam Delap

Hugo Ekitike

Benjamin Sesko

Hell we even threw the kitchen sink at Isak to make him stay, he had probably 36hrs to get someone through the door at that point and let's not pretend no one thought Wissa was anything but a sure fire bet for goals albeit an expensive acquisition in a desperate situation.

Wissa had only played 427 premiere League minutes this season, harsh to close the door on him like Howe seems too have. This is the least amount of minutes he's ever played in a season in the premiere League (1373 mins, 7 goals, 1600 mins 7 goals, 2508 mins 12 goals, 2929 mins 19 goals then we play him for 434 mins) that's 45 goals before signing for us)

 

 

Edited April 18 by Gawalls

[Armchair Pundit]

Just now, Stuy_O said:

I saw Eddie say he's still got the fire to succeed at Newcastle but his eyes told a different story to me. 

 

Even after everything I've said... I have to admit I've noticed this in the last couple of interviews too. Sadly, Eddie looks 'tired'... I honestly wonder if, as much as he says he doesn't read social media or the news, whether he's feeling it a bit. Sad times.

[TheEntertainer]

4 minutes ago, Armchair Pundit said:

For me, it just feels really sad that there's people that are so willing to bin Eddie off, after everything, following a single poor season in the league - especially considering every cup comp in this same season had the latter stages reached.

 

I'm not saying I'm happy with our performances or league position, far from it, but I'd far rather take a more cautious, thought out approach, giving Eddie time to fix things with a decent summer window. I truly think it'd be a mistake right now to rush headlong into bringing in a new manager, with all the upheaval to the club itself and players that would come with it.

Completely disagree that this is a 'more cautious, thought out approach' there are potential risks and potential rewards to either choice, not changing would probably be seen as cautious, but honestly in the footballing world sticking on a failing manager and hoping for better next year (based on previous acheivements) is probably the risky approach. Both sides of the argument can be thought out, they just differ. Generally bringing in a new manager when a team is under-performing has at least a short term benefit, not always and certainly not if you just do it all the time like Forest, but often enough for it to be the tried and tested approach for football teams around the world. 

[Hanshithispantz]

What's the point of people ignoring all context of what actually happened in order to stick the knife into Howe?

 

Alongside the fact that, as pointed out, we actually tried for about half a dozen other strikers, Wissa was instantly injured for half of the season after he signed which is actually the most likely reason he's been a massive waste of money. 

 

 

[Hudson]

7 minutes ago, Armchair Pundit said:

 

That's right, how many bang average players that we've shown an interest in have suddenly had their value sky rocket? There's no way Wissa was worth the money we paid for him, Strand Larsen was another example of a club trying to fleece us because they knew we were desperate.

We created that desperation with the way the Isak situation was handled. 

[Wolfcastle]

2 hours ago, Hanshithispantz said:

What's the point of people ignoring all context of what actually happened in order to stick the knife into Howe?

 

Alongside the fact that, as pointed out, we actually tried for about half a dozen other strikers, Wissa was instantly injured for half of the season after he signed which is actually the most likely reason he's been a massive waste of money. 

 

 

Maybe they don't think that losing a player and buying several others with the money recouped and other monies besides justifies a massive decline because thats not a path set in stone and often doesn't go that way. Its basically the way most clubs operate and probably the way we'll have to operate from here on. 

 

 

Edited April 19 by Wolfcastle