Eddie Howe - Confidence lost

Stephen looks at Eddie's time in charge and assesses how it came to this

So Eddie Howe has decided to resign from Newcastle United. With twenty four hours to process this, plus reviewing the different rumours or narratives that accompany it, it seems the perfect time to take stock of the almost five years of Howe’s reign.

Now I won’t apologise for it or rewrite a narrative. I felt that for large parts of last season and even the season before, from January and beating Wolves to then beating West Ham, we had gone stale. The euphoria of the cup win at Wembley may never be matched and the two Champions League runs were incredible for a side that had battled relegation. For that Eddie Howe deserves free pints whenever he wants on Tyneside and the goodwill of all of us. Those achievements for me place him second in the list of Newcastle managers in my lifetime, just pipping Sir Bobby, not getting close to Keegan – but that’s me and I am sure others will think differently.

There are three periods to me of the Howe era. The first is from November 2021 and him watching from his COVID bed as we drew 3-3 with Brentford, probably ending in Paris with an Mbappe penalty that was about to start a difficult period for the club. He came in and through the January window managed to give a side enough confidence to recover to stay up easily. We finished eleventh. There was a recognisable way of playing that was built on into the following season where we were incredible. The side played on the counter, we ran through teams and blew others away. We were hard to beat, we were horrible and a 0-0 draw at the Emirates saw us rattling Arteta way before he started bleating about the ball. We went to a cup final and lost.

Now this was my first issue with Howe. Isak not starting that final. This isn’t said with hindsight because the previous game van dijk had looked terrified of him and with ten men we were still giving Liverpool a game. Callum Wilson for all his many strengths, did not scare Maguire et al in the same way that Isak did and still does. But we finished fourth, we were in the Champions League. Fantastic, amazing. That 4-1 win over PSG great.

However, the warning signs of issues ahead came in that autumn of 2023 and the problems that were likely to impact us moving forward. Wilson had an excellent 22/23, as did Almirón and they probably should have been moved on then to allow us to strengthen – none of them did. The Tino and Hall deals were excellent and improved us in the long term (Hall) or immediately (Tino) but were like the Barnes deal, paying premium prices.

Now you can say that isn’t on Howe …. You’d be right. Ultimately though we had to sell Elliot Anderson and Yankuba Minteh because we spent so much. In addition, both those players would walk into our starting line up now. Also neither would have been the players they are now if they had stayed at Newcastle. Anderson said as much before the World Cup - the move to Forest has made him in to the player he is. Miley was only picked out of necessity. Which academy players have come to or through Newcastle and been developed under Howe’s watch? Miley …. That’s it. Some academy staff were furious that the young players around the first team didn’t get given an opportunity in the Qarabag home game when the tie was already won.

The period from autumn 2023 to Dec 2024 is a pretty fallow period for us. We finished seventh but we weren’t changing. The side was still reliant on the same patterns of play that had worked in 21/22 and 22/23. It was plan A and plan A only. We were beating teams sometimes through pure force of will, but in most cases these were teams who we now have far bigger budgets than.

You want to know why we can’t spend, look at our wage bill. Howe was a big supporter of Joelinton’s new contract, whereas Ashworth thought he wasn’t worth it. Which other top six side would want him in their midfield? Answer – none. The club gambled on Bruno leaving for 100 million, but it didn’t happen. Gordon in a strop – new deal, sorry Alex that means we can’t afford to give you one.

The run from Dec 24 to April 25 is the last great run of that Eddie Howe team. The return of Tonali and the team to its all conquering best. But the race was run. We won a trophy which was incredible, but the legacy for Howe will be compounded by two things. One we spent that season largely as flat track bullies. We could not beat a team that was in the top four or five away from home at the time we played them under Howe. Our away form became a huge problem. Isak downed tools, Gordon refused to play on the right. Eddie’s favourites became a theme, rightly or wrongly.

But most damning of all was the 2025 transfer window. The manager pushed to win a power struggle with the director of football who wanted to rebuild from a position of strength. That would mean some sales, but it would also mean building for the future. The manager wanted Premier League proven. Eddie won, he got his choice. Mitchell handed in his notice and left. We got Elanga, we got Wissa, we got Woltemade. People say look at the players he missed out on - right, great but we missed out on them because we couldn’t afford them because our wage bill is already too high (see the UEFA fine) and because the people selling them the vision weren’t capable of doing so. We are now a year later dealing with the fall out from this.

We have spent the Isak money – it is gone, and in a season where we had Champions League revenue and a £125 million sale we needed to sell Gordon or we might have failed the UEFA rules at the first hurdle. We have sold Tonali because he can double his wages elsewhere, same with Bruno.

Therefore the time feels right for a mutual parting of the ways. Arguably it should have happened after Fulham in May where we were embarrassing.

This isn’t about one season. The manager had a plan that worked for almost two years, until others worked it out and then we never adapted. The players grew tired of it, it was stale. Still it didn’t change. The backroom staff stayed the same, no new voices or new ideas, stale. Most managers have to adapt or evolve, but we tried to play the same way in four competitions this year. We got to a semi final but were resoundingly beaten, were poor in the FA Cup, lost to the first side we played with a bigger budget in the Champions League and couldn’t cope with the demands of the league season.

Something had to change.

Eddie didn’t want to work and rebuild a team, so thanks for the memories and the great occasions, but it is time for us to move forward.

Stephen Ord