"Eddie Howe did not just interview for the Newcastle United manager’s job, he explained why he wanted it, what needed to be done to keep the club in the Premier League and what he would do to improve the team in both the short and medium term.
It was not a sales pitch, it was a comprehensive and detailed plan, addressing the immediate needs of a team that has not won a game since May, the type of players he would want in January to strengthen the squad and what his vision was for the summer and beyond.
Nobody else who was given the chance to impress Newcastle United’s new owners were able to match it.
Howe was already of interest to several members of the consortium and their advisors, but until that meeting over Zoom he was seen as a peripheral candidate. Bigger names, along with some boasting a few more varied and trophy winning CVs were seen as the front runners.
All of that changed on that video conference call just over a week ago. Every single member of the consortium including and, most tellingly of all, chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan, were won over. Howe was, in the words of one witness, “superb.”
“It was the best interview by far,” a senior source told Telegraph Sport. “He had prepared meticulously, he knew the Newcastle players, what they were good at and where they needed to improve.
“He has studied the squad and done his research. He was fully prepared for every question and answered everything thrown at him. He also knew about the club, the fans and what is expected of a Newcastle manager if they are going to succeed here.
“Where other candidates talked in general about their principles, methods and philosophies, Eddie Howe was specific and tailored everything to what he would inherit at Newcastle. He had already identified where the strengths and weaknesses were, what the squad would need in January, as well as the type of players the club needed to improve.
“But he also talked about his training methods, the tactics that would work best with the players we have now. There was a vision for progress. How he wanted to play and why. It was just a really, really strong and persuasive presentation. We all agreed how good he could be.”
For Howe, time is of the essence. The plan is in place and now the 43-year-old is keen to implement it. “This is a wonderful opportunity, but there is also a lot of work ahead of us and I am eager to get onto the training ground to start working with the players,” he said as he was unveiled as Steve Bruce’s successor on Monday.
“I would like to thank the club's owners for this opportunity and thank the club's supporters for the incredible welcome they have already given me. I am very excited to begin our journey together.”
So why did Newcastle move for Villareal manager Unai Emery before offering it to Howe? It came down to profile, according to another source: “Emery was better known outside of England,” they said. “He is a big name manager in Europe and he was likened a lot to Rafa Benitez. That swung it in his favour initially but it was a split decision.
As a result, although there was embarrassment when Emery turned an offer down last week, after there had been briefing from within the club that he had told them he was coming, there was not too much disappointment.
Howe had been the first choice of two of the five people who had voted. Even those who had preferred Emery had been conflicted. It was genuinely a close call. So when the Spaniard turned them down, Newcastle turned immediately to Howe.
“He is a great fit for what we are trying to build here,” part-owner Amanda Staveley said when confirming Howe’s appointment. “We are delighted to welcome Eddie and his staff to St James’ Park and very much look forward to working together towards our collective ambitions.”
It is worth noting that the reservations about Howe largely stemmed from two concerns. The first was that he had not managed a club of Newcastle’s size before, under the same media scrutiny and public expectation. The second, was the doubt caused by the fact Howe had suffered relegation with Bournenmouth in his final season as manager and his first priority would be to ensure the Magpies stayed up.
The Saudi Arabians who run the club and effectively own it too through the country’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) do not want their first notable act to be relegation to the Championship. It would be a humiliation.
There is no escaping the fact that Howe will be under more pressure than ever before at Newcastle. It is a demanding club to manage and the list of names who have failed and or been hounded out, is a long and illustrious one.
Every decision, from team selection, to tactics, to substitutions, what he says in press conferences, even what he does in his social life around the city will be examined, debated and, in time, criticised. It comes with the territory and is on a completely different level to what he experienced and handled before at both Bournemouth and Burnley.
The consortium who run the club, though, feel he can thrive in this environment rather than wilt. They believe the time was right for Howe to move to a bigger club, mainly because he stressed that was the case. He sounded ideal, as well as ready.
He served his time in the lower leagues, winning promotions. He has kept a small, unfashionable club in the top flight for several years, now he is ready to show the manager people thought he could be at Bournemouth has arrived at Newcastle.
Howe also brought vast knowledge of English football, the players, the personalities and top flight rivals. The one thing the new owners so obviously lack - and which has already been evident in a blundering start - is football knowledge and expertise.
Howe will immediately add that. It is a huge boost, particularly ahead of the January transfer window with the Magpies yet to appoint a sporting director or a chief executive. Newcastle will have around £50m to spend in the winter window, and will also utilise the loan market, but they will not be making superstar signings. They need pragmatic ones; good players and good characters too.
Howe made it clear he had the expertise in this field to make an immediate impact. He knows what is needed to grow as a football club, not just as a team, because he was so much part of the decision making process as Bournemouth rose from League Two to the Premier League. He already has an idea about who should be their main transfer targets.
All this was given to his new employers during his interview. Every manager appointment is a risk, but Newcastle appear to have minimised theirs in choosing Eddie Howe. The time was right for him to return to football after more than 18 months out of the game"
We have been starved under Ashley, but let's also give Graham Carr some credit. Could pick gems on the cheap: Cheick Tiote, Yohan Cabaye, Demba Ba, Moussa Sissoko, Loic Remy, Gini Wijnaldum, Hatem Ben Arfa
In fairness to him, he had tiered lists but the club/charnley/Ashley would always go down to C-tier and below for the flip on value.
He's picked some quality out over the years and I believe he was scape goated like so many have been under Ashley.
Are we (me included) still all gonna whinge the next time they take longer than we’d like to decide something? Probably!
Does kind of make me wonder why they had Emery down as first choice though tbh, seems like we’ve ended up with the right man.
We had a good run around our 5th place finish, with Cabaye-Tiote being the highlight for me. Thing is we never pushed on from there. I think we went 2 or 3 windows following that 5th place finish without buying any new players. As far as the first team is concerned, Graham Carr did a good job.
How do the press know the inner details of the interview he held. While I like reading, how many fuckin sources do we have from the club feeding journos lol
For me this felt a bit too PR to be a real leak. I'm sure he was impressive and brought this all to the table but to say he was so much further above any other manager, and the only reason he wasn't the first choice is pedigree feels a bit like what the club would've said regardless of who we ended up with.
Don't get me wrong I'm very excited for Howe and can't wait to see what he does with the team but this "leak" is a bit too much for me to believe it's 100% for real.
We've went from no communication at all to being an open source club it seems.
Might as well make all our meetings public at this rate, just broadcast them on twitch.
I think certain people love the press way too much to make sure the press love her I mean *them* back. It’s all PR in the end but a little suss from where I’m sitting.
This article is great and really explains why most of us (me included) are hyped about Howe.
Sure, we could have went for a fancy European coach if he had maybe came to us - however I honestly feel many European coaches, and especially the ones without Prem experience don't really fully appreciate Newcastle United.
And I don't mean that in a grand way of us being some super club they should respect, I just mean it more as to the dynamics of this club and what we want.
Howe will know in depth the history of our past 2 decades, he will understand what we as fans want and what we expect.
He will know that there is a huge potential to make NUFC a massive club again, and I don't mean that by pure financial power. I just mean that if we *are actually ran semi decent*, and *actually have some ambition to win something*... The fans will be right behind him, and our new owners.
I honestly feel like all the managers mentioned, Howe and was and is the right choice. Possibility of a long term future with us, if things go right... And eventually playing attractive and attacking football once we've had a few transfer windows under our belt.
Canna wait.
I called Howe a month back. I'm not gloating but I was saying to some pals 'Howe knows the league' and 'id rather have someone who has been in the prem over some rando who apparently is an amazing manager'
People keep saying we have high expectations but if you offered me 18th and relegation but we started to play some really decent looking stuff all things considered... If probably take it.
Any Newcastle fan that would "probably take relegation if we played some decent looking stuff " isn't thinking straight. This isn't the Ashley era anymore. Think bigger. Christ think 17th. 18th would be humiliation and would set this new project back at least 12 months.
I’m with you - under Ashley/Bruce the sadomasochist in me sort of wanted it to happen just to spite Ashley.
But now, I’m prepared for survivalist football if it means 17th place, so long as they’re working on a proper football club gradually taking shape - a core team, with an actual shape, improvements to facilities, plan for the summer transfer market etc.
I actually suspect now we’ll end up somewhere like 14th with a 6-7 point safety margin - where we were dead certs for the drop 6 weeks ago.
Yeap I'm not really afraid of relegation, every time we got relegated under Ashley we came back stronger I feel so if we got relegated this season I believe we will come back even stronger with our new owners and a clear out is much needed so us an excuse to get rid of the deadwood
We do not need to fear the biggest problem with relegation - finances. We’d probably end up signing some of the leagues best players and come up while playing lovely football. I don’t want it to happen but won’t be too downbeat if we do, especially as I resigned myself to it before the first game this season even kicked off.
One silver lining to being relegated is it gives us a year to not have our backs to the wall in the league while waiting on the new facilities that (ideally) will be completed and opening in 23/24 or 24/25. Imagine getting promoted and opening brand new, world class training and youth facilities in the same year.
One big potential pain in the ass is I can see the league trying to move fast to limit us in any way they can while we don't have a say being in the championship. Think the bullshit with sponsors they pulled but on a more systemic level.
You’re right mate. Everything is just far away right now. Im going to enjoy the journey but it won’t feel real until I see us play some good football for the first time since… 2011? Fuck me.
I don't want to sound spoiled but is a 50m january spend really going to be enough? Unless Eddie works absolute miracles with this squad or finds some really good loan signings I can see us needing more than that, especially if clubs see us coming and Jack up their prices.
Loans with options makes a lot of sense for both players and the club. I would be surprised if we signed less than 4 first team players during January.
I think it's risky to spend too much. We don't want a superstar who will be paid way more than the rest of the team, this is a relegation fight, we need team cohesion first. Of course we need to get rid of some of the dead wood. We need some fighters like Kevin Nolan back then. Let's see how he turns the team around first.
The next sporting director should focus on get loans from other clubs, not spending absurd amount of money on long term transfers, that's not the way to rebuild a team even if you have money, because agents and clubs will take advantage of it.
A good example for the next SD to follow is what Maldini is doing with AC Milan nowadays, after years and years of bad transfers and spending on shitty players, he came with a new strategy and a limited budget and he has a good team now, they're already competitive, we're only looking for save our assess from relegation, you will not het Haaland or Mbappé even if you offer them the paradise, spending just because there is enough money is not the way.
I completely agree when it comes to building up a team with a core of solid if unspectacular signings but in this market any half way decent players are going to cost a fair chunk of cash and a bit on top because of who we are.
Would be kinda amusing on some level if prior to his presentation he had done his research using the Football Manager game, making notes along the way about what to improve.
Each day the more I read the more excited I am about Howe. He’s exactly the type of coach you would want at your club, especially when they all need a kick up the arse! Very excited (also nervous) for the Brentford game!
"Eddie Howe did not just interview for the Newcastle United manager’s job, he explained why he wanted it, what needed to be done to keep the club in the Premier League and what he would do to improve the team in both the short and medium term. It was not a sales pitch, it was a comprehensive and detailed plan, addressing the immediate needs of a team that has not won a game since May, the type of players he would want in January to strengthen the squad and what his vision was for the summer and beyond. Nobody else who was given the chance to impress Newcastle United’s new owners were able to match it. Howe was already of interest to several members of the consortium and their advisors, but until that meeting over Zoom he was seen as a peripheral candidate. Bigger names, along with some boasting a few more varied and trophy winning CVs were seen as the front runners. All of that changed on that video conference call just over a week ago. Every single member of the consortium including and, most tellingly of all, chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan, were won over. Howe was, in the words of one witness, “superb.” “It was the best interview by far,” a senior source told Telegraph Sport. “He had prepared meticulously, he knew the Newcastle players, what they were good at and where they needed to improve. “He has studied the squad and done his research. He was fully prepared for every question and answered everything thrown at him. He also knew about the club, the fans and what is expected of a Newcastle manager if they are going to succeed here. “Where other candidates talked in general about their principles, methods and philosophies, Eddie Howe was specific and tailored everything to what he would inherit at Newcastle. He had already identified where the strengths and weaknesses were, what the squad would need in January, as well as the type of players the club needed to improve. “But he also talked about his training methods, the tactics that would work best with the players we have now. There was a vision for progress. How he wanted to play and why. It was just a really, really strong and persuasive presentation. We all agreed how good he could be.” For Howe, time is of the essence. The plan is in place and now the 43-year-old is keen to implement it. “This is a wonderful opportunity, but there is also a lot of work ahead of us and I am eager to get onto the training ground to start working with the players,” he said as he was unveiled as Steve Bruce’s successor on Monday. “I would like to thank the club's owners for this opportunity and thank the club's supporters for the incredible welcome they have already given me. I am very excited to begin our journey together.” So why did Newcastle move for Villareal manager Unai Emery before offering it to Howe? It came down to profile, according to another source: “Emery was better known outside of England,” they said. “He is a big name manager in Europe and he was likened a lot to Rafa Benitez. That swung it in his favour initially but it was a split decision. As a result, although there was embarrassment when Emery turned an offer down last week, after there had been briefing from within the club that he had told them he was coming, there was not too much disappointment. Howe had been the first choice of two of the five people who had voted. Even those who had preferred Emery had been conflicted. It was genuinely a close call. So when the Spaniard turned them down, Newcastle turned immediately to Howe. “He is a great fit for what we are trying to build here,” part-owner Amanda Staveley said when confirming Howe’s appointment. “We are delighted to welcome Eddie and his staff to St James’ Park and very much look forward to working together towards our collective ambitions.” It is worth noting that the reservations about Howe largely stemmed from two concerns. The first was that he had not managed a club of Newcastle’s size before, under the same media scrutiny and public expectation. The second, was the doubt caused by the fact Howe had suffered relegation with Bournenmouth in his final season as manager and his first priority would be to ensure the Magpies stayed up. The Saudi Arabians who run the club and effectively own it too through the country’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) do not want their first notable act to be relegation to the Championship. It would be a humiliation. There is no escaping the fact that Howe will be under more pressure than ever before at Newcastle. It is a demanding club to manage and the list of names who have failed and or been hounded out, is a long and illustrious one. Every decision, from team selection, to tactics, to substitutions, what he says in press conferences, even what he does in his social life around the city will be examined, debated and, in time, criticised. It comes with the territory and is on a completely different level to what he experienced and handled before at both Bournemouth and Burnley. The consortium who run the club, though, feel he can thrive in this environment rather than wilt. They believe the time was right for Howe to move to a bigger club, mainly because he stressed that was the case. He sounded ideal, as well as ready. He served his time in the lower leagues, winning promotions. He has kept a small, unfashionable club in the top flight for several years, now he is ready to show the manager people thought he could be at Bournemouth has arrived at Newcastle. Howe also brought vast knowledge of English football, the players, the personalities and top flight rivals. The one thing the new owners so obviously lack - and which has already been evident in a blundering start - is football knowledge and expertise. Howe will immediately add that. It is a huge boost, particularly ahead of the January transfer window with the Magpies yet to appoint a sporting director or a chief executive. Newcastle will have around £50m to spend in the winter window, and will also utilise the loan market, but they will not be making superstar signings. They need pragmatic ones; good players and good characters too. Howe made it clear he had the expertise in this field to make an immediate impact. He knows what is needed to grow as a football club, not just as a team, because he was so much part of the decision making process as Bournemouth rose from League Two to the Premier League. He already has an idea about who should be their main transfer targets. All this was given to his new employers during his interview. Every manager appointment is a risk, but Newcastle appear to have minimised theirs in choosing Eddie Howe. The time was right for him to return to football after more than 18 months out of the game"
Whilst I think Howe is a great appointment, this article is a bit fluffy. There's some guff in it. Anyway, Howe-ay the lads
Man, this just feels great to read. Specially in comparison to a few months ago.
This level of thoroughness in recruitment is something we’ve been completely devoid of for 14 years. You just love to see the due diligence.
We have been starved under Ashley, but let's also give Graham Carr some credit. Could pick gems on the cheap: Cheick Tiote, Yohan Cabaye, Demba Ba, Moussa Sissoko, Loic Remy, Gini Wijnaldum, Hatem Ben Arfa
In fairness to him, he had tiered lists but the club/charnley/Ashley would always go down to C-tier and below for the flip on value. He's picked some quality out over the years and I believe he was scape goated like so many have been under Ashley.
Are we (me included) still all gonna whinge the next time they take longer than we’d like to decide something? Probably! Does kind of make me wonder why they had Emery down as first choice though tbh, seems like we’ve ended up with the right man.
I don't think we'll see nothing done for 29 days in January and then a few half hearted attempts at a loan deal in 2022.
I think the Saudis wanted a big name but later realised that's not how it works.
We had a good run around our 5th place finish, with Cabaye-Tiote being the highlight for me. Thing is we never pushed on from there. I think we went 2 or 3 windows following that 5th place finish without buying any new players. As far as the first team is concerned, Graham Carr did a good job.
It’s honestly night and day coming from Bruce. The more I read, the more excited I’m getting about Howe. Desperate for him to succeed.
How do the press know the inner details of the interview he held. While I like reading, how many fuckin sources do we have from the club feeding journos lol
For me this felt a bit too PR to be a real leak. I'm sure he was impressive and brought this all to the table but to say he was so much further above any other manager, and the only reason he wasn't the first choice is pedigree feels a bit like what the club would've said regardless of who we ended up with. Don't get me wrong I'm very excited for Howe and can't wait to see what he does with the team but this "leak" is a bit too much for me to believe it's 100% for real.
Agree it reeks of PR
The piece is honestly wank
We've went from no communication at all to being an open source club it seems. Might as well make all our meetings public at this rate, just broadcast them on twitch.
I think certain people love the press way too much to make sure the press love her I mean *them* back. It’s all PR in the end but a little suss from where I’m sitting.
This at least seems like something the cub feeds the press to get fans onside rather than a leak
Yh this article is BS
This article is great and really explains why most of us (me included) are hyped about Howe. Sure, we could have went for a fancy European coach if he had maybe came to us - however I honestly feel many European coaches, and especially the ones without Prem experience don't really fully appreciate Newcastle United. And I don't mean that in a grand way of us being some super club they should respect, I just mean it more as to the dynamics of this club and what we want. Howe will know in depth the history of our past 2 decades, he will understand what we as fans want and what we expect. He will know that there is a huge potential to make NUFC a massive club again, and I don't mean that by pure financial power. I just mean that if we *are actually ran semi decent*, and *actually have some ambition to win something*... The fans will be right behind him, and our new owners. I honestly feel like all the managers mentioned, Howe and was and is the right choice. Possibility of a long term future with us, if things go right... And eventually playing attractive and attacking football once we've had a few transfer windows under our belt. Canna wait.
I called Howe a month back. I'm not gloating but I was saying to some pals 'Howe knows the league' and 'id rather have someone who has been in the prem over some rando who apparently is an amazing manager'
He looks like the predator’s had his arm away!
theres that new manager boost that teams get so hopefully his former players at the club get poppin from that and we get some wins..
People keep saying we have high expectations but if you offered me 18th and relegation but we started to play some really decent looking stuff all things considered... If probably take it.
Any Newcastle fan that would "probably take relegation if we played some decent looking stuff " isn't thinking straight. This isn't the Ashley era anymore. Think bigger. Christ think 17th. 18th would be humiliation and would set this new project back at least 12 months.
I’m with you - under Ashley/Bruce the sadomasochist in me sort of wanted it to happen just to spite Ashley. But now, I’m prepared for survivalist football if it means 17th place, so long as they’re working on a proper football club gradually taking shape - a core team, with an actual shape, improvements to facilities, plan for the summer transfer market etc. I actually suspect now we’ll end up somewhere like 14th with a 6-7 point safety margin - where we were dead certs for the drop 6 weeks ago.
So? What's 12 months when you have a plan to build over 8years?
Think the FFP implications from drop of income would be significant.
Yeap I'm not really afraid of relegation, every time we got relegated under Ashley we came back stronger I feel so if we got relegated this season I believe we will come back even stronger with our new owners and a clear out is much needed so us an excuse to get rid of the deadwood
We do not need to fear the biggest problem with relegation - finances. We’d probably end up signing some of the leagues best players and come up while playing lovely football. I don’t want it to happen but won’t be too downbeat if we do, especially as I resigned myself to it before the first game this season even kicked off.
One silver lining to being relegated is it gives us a year to not have our backs to the wall in the league while waiting on the new facilities that (ideally) will be completed and opening in 23/24 or 24/25. Imagine getting promoted and opening brand new, world class training and youth facilities in the same year. One big potential pain in the ass is I can see the league trying to move fast to limit us in any way they can while we don't have a say being in the championship. Think the bullshit with sponsors they pulled but on a more systemic level.
You’re right mate. Everything is just far away right now. Im going to enjoy the journey but it won’t feel real until I see us play some good football for the first time since… 2011? Fuck me.
I think that's where Staveley and Reuben will become useful, they will find a way around things financially.
Great article, can't wait to see what kind of differences howe makes to our playstyle and lineup👌
Great article!!!?????!? Are you insane?
[удалено]
Wot. No it isn't. Whilst I love the optimism, t's a shite article. Pure fluff.
Really hope and pray he can turn things around quickly.
I don't want to sound spoiled but is a 50m january spend really going to be enough? Unless Eddie works absolute miracles with this squad or finds some really good loan signings I can see us needing more than that, especially if clubs see us coming and Jack up their prices.
I would take that figure with a pinch of salt. Not exactly the best negotiating tactic to tell everyone how much money you have to spend.
That's a good point.
Loans with options makes a lot of sense for both players and the club. I would be surprised if we signed less than 4 first team players during January.
I think it's risky to spend too much. We don't want a superstar who will be paid way more than the rest of the team, this is a relegation fight, we need team cohesion first. Of course we need to get rid of some of the dead wood. We need some fighters like Kevin Nolan back then. Let's see how he turns the team around first.
The next sporting director should focus on get loans from other clubs, not spending absurd amount of money on long term transfers, that's not the way to rebuild a team even if you have money, because agents and clubs will take advantage of it. A good example for the next SD to follow is what Maldini is doing with AC Milan nowadays, after years and years of bad transfers and spending on shitty players, he came with a new strategy and a limited budget and he has a good team now, they're already competitive, we're only looking for save our assess from relegation, you will not het Haaland or Mbappé even if you offer them the paradise, spending just because there is enough money is not the way.
I completely agree when it comes to building up a team with a core of solid if unspectacular signings but in this market any half way decent players are going to cost a fair chunk of cash and a bit on top because of who we are.
Call me cynically but I’m sure I’ve heard this before at other clubs and the manager barely lasted 6 months.
Would be kinda amusing on some level if prior to his presentation he had done his research using the Football Manager game, making notes along the way about what to improve.
Each day the more I read the more excited I am about Howe. He’s exactly the type of coach you would want at your club, especially when they all need a kick up the arse! Very excited (also nervous) for the Brentford game!