The Newcastle United head coach will have to make some big calls to stay in the St James' Park hotseat
Newcastle United head coach Eddie Howe, former Ireland boss Jack Charlton and Manchester United leged Sir Alex Ferguson
Newcastle United head coach Eddie Howe, former Ireland and Magpies boss Jack Charlton and Manchester United leged Sir Alex Ferguson
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As Eddie Howe stands amid the bomb site of Newcastle's ruinous season scattered with false hope, my mind repeatedly goes back to Jack Charlton, a well decorated Geordie, telling me what he considered the essence of management.
He believed that 'if you don't get rid of players every five years they'll get rid of you.'
His way of explanation was that unless there is a regular turnover of personnel in the dressing-room, casting loyalty to one side, footballers have heard everything you have to say many times over and become indifferent leading inevitably to the manager getting the sack.
I wonder if during the recent most intense scrutiny of his credentials, Charlton's theory on turnover ever crossed the mind of Howe, one of football's great loyalists, especially when he is ironically, significantly, coming up to Big Jack's cut-off fifth year.
If it hadn't before perhaps it will now after United's double humiliation inflicted by Barca and Sunderland within a matter of days. The blowtorch has been turned up to full blast.
Howe would no doubt argue that loyalty in forging a band of brothers has been the bedrock of his success in the past. Others would contend it is his Achilles heel and that he has repeatedly backed players in blind faith.
The greatest of survivors, Sir Alex Ferguson, who boasted a trophy-laden display cabinet at Manchester United was a Jack Charlton thinker never afraid to jettison his superstars to maintain a steady turnover.
At the height of their fame Fergie got rid of the likes of David Beckham, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Paul Ince, Jaap Stam, Roy Keane, Peter Schmeichel and Carlos Tevez yet the trophies kept a'coming. Despite his ruthlessness . . . or perhaps because of it.
Maybe Charlton walked out at NUFC after just a year because of fan unrest but he was massively successful elsewhere winning promotion as Second Division champions with Middlesbrough (being voted Manager of the Year despite playing a division down) and firmly establishing them in the top flight while he became a legend with the Republic of Ireland who he took to Euro 88 and followed up with two successive World Cup finals in 90 and 94.
Yet throughout he remained faithful to his philosophy. He sold Alan Foggon at Boro, the player he had tactically moulded his promotion team around, and jettisoned Ireland's most gifted player Liam Brady in his turnover.
Jack quit Boro after just over four years and Sheffield Wednesday just over five where he also won promotion before walking out despite the board of directors pleading for him to stay. Managing at international level is very different with no daily training sessions or weekly matches to spread familiarity. Hence it is easier to stay longer.
Eddie Howe has been spectacularly successful by NUFC standards but this barren season has imploded big time, which means the Magpie boss is confronting his first fully-blown crisis since his appointment on November 8, 2021.
Football can easily become fractured descending into civil war and splitting a support base only held together by its all embracing love of the badge.
Right now that is the case across all of black-and-white faith. There are those who say we should be grateful for what Howe has done in our name and be careful for what we wish. Others equally argue that while we ought to acknowledge the considerable contribution of Eddie which guarantees him a place in Geordie folklore he has taken us as far as he can. I will let you decide in which camp your feet are firmly planted because each and every fan has a right to an opinion as long as it is expressed with consideration.
Football is brutally cruel especially in these times of keyboard warriors sniping from security but then even legends have never been immune not only to criticism but to the silver bullet.
Two of United's finest revered by those old enough to remember their days of caviar, Joe Harvey and Bobby Robson, were sacked by our club as a way of thanks.
Howe himself is a legend at Bournemouth, a former player who as manager piloted them from the brink of non-league status to the treasured land of the Premier League, yet he was still eventually forced out.
Country-wide there are many examples of icons paying the ultimate price, the most spectacular being Claudio Ranieri who was pedalled by Leicester less than a year after winning them the Premier League crown in 2016, sport's most fairytale success story ever.
Howe can lay claim to legendary status here too because of two Wembley finals, one victorious, and two Champions League qualifications but is he right in his philosophy of blind support and little change? Or was Big Jack right? Does loyalty work two ways or not at all? Should the past guarantee the present and the future?
The manager is currently being judged in the court of public opinion and maybe will be by those who sign his pay cheques come the season's end if a toxic atmosphere prevails.
As I watched an ashen faced Eddie trudge round SJP upon the final whistle after the derby I couldn't help but cast my mind back to Marcelo Bielsa at Leeds. His high-octane front foot football was roundly welcomed both by players and fans alike but became unsustainable over a long period of time and reality set in. Certainly United have dropped off their physical input alarmingly in the second-half of matches recently.
Here are another set of questions: Will Howe ride out the current storm and take us to the promised land? Or will he eventually go the same way as good men of honour and achievement like Harvey and Robson?
Regardless, Geordies will also look beyond the manager and guilty players of who there are many to those who work in the shadows but have an equal responsibility. To the new CEO, new Director of Football, and above all the Saudi owners themselves.
Let the ultimate bosses, those who bought the club, show they care as much as us Geordies and haven't lost interest in their toy. Their actions have petered out - never started in terms of conclusive action with ground and training facilities - and that is not good enough.
Positive leadership is required like never before and if they stick with Howe - and indications remain steadfastly consistent - then they must back him to the hilt this summer with en masse support in an effort to steady a listing ship. He in turn must change some of his rigid thinking . . . perhaps including refreshing the dressing-room as Big Jack suggested by getting some players out as well as in. We know what familiarity can breed.
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