Not for the first time this season, Eddie Howe’s Newcastle United future is the topic of heavy debate amongst the Toon Army.
Emotions run high after defeats at the best of times, but when Newcastle get beaten by Sunderland just days after a 7-2 spanking from Barcelona in the Champions League, no amount of pints at the Winchester is going to see this one blow over any time soon.
Newcastle are now out of every cup competition and sit in the bottom half of the Premier League with just seven games remaining. European qualification is still mathematically possible, but it’s going to take something that Newcastle haven’t managed all season … a run of more than three consecutive league victories.
With hope that this season will produce anything tangible, a section of the Newcastle fanbase has turned to the ‘Howe Out’ mentality, but according to The Telegraph, those in charge at Newcastle aren’t subscribing to that same train of thought.
According to Luke Edwards’ report, the higher-ups at Newcastle United feel that axing Eddie Howe would be a knee-**** reaction to fan emotions and prove be a mistake.
When you consider everything Eddie Howe has done in four years, with essentially one hand tied behind his back at all times, whether that be due to PSR constraints, uncertainty with CEOs, sporting directors and even owners, or just horrendous luck with injuries, he’s still got a lot of credit in the bank.
With Ross Wilson now firmly in place behind the sporting director desk and David Hopkinson as CEO, this summer is massive. It’s clear there needs to be a squad rebuild, and Eddie Howe needs to be backed after being left to do everything on his own last summer, and then not being backed in January.
Edwards also claims that Newcastle will look to avoid another Alexander Isak-esque summer drama by asking players who want to leave to be honest and up front about it so they can find a solution early, so that they go into pre-season with no destructive forces pulling the mood down.
We back the club’s decision here 100% as we’ve seen it far too many times over the years where clubs sack managers too quickly after an iffy run of games. As much as we can’t stand Mikel Arteta, Arsenal stuck by him through some pretty bad times and now they are Premier League title chasers every season – they may not have actually won anything, but they are very highly rated.
Edwards says the Newcastle board recognise what Howe has done since he arrived, and we agree that the issue is that Howe has greatly overachieved. When Newcastle plateaus to what is probably their actual level, given the depth and quality of the squad as a whole, it looks like we’re failing. We have some big stars, but they’re being propped up by average players who are overperforming due to Howe’s coaching.
He’s far from perfect, and certainly isn’t blameless (dare we mention the half-time team talks again?), but we still genuinely don’t believe there’s anyone out there who would actually come to Newcastle, who could do a better job.