The word obsessed probably does not cover it. Eddie Howe may have been on holiday with his family in Canada and Greece earlier this summer, but the Newcastle United boss was still planning, plotting and analysing how the Magpies could get better. No one will be surprised by that. That’s how hands-on Howe is as CEO Darren Eales quickly discovered.
“He is someone who demands a work rate,” he said. “We have our meetings at 7am because that’s the best time to get Eddie in terms of starting his working day. That’s what I love about him.
“I’m not going to name names, but there have been managers who I worked with who couldn’t wait to get away from the training ground. Eddie is the absolute opposite.”
However, in his next breath, Eales explained that the decision to appoint Paul Mitchell as the club’s sporting director was to let Howe ‘do the strengths he’s got’ – namely working on the grass – and ‘take away from him some of the things that, if it was Eddie, he would spend all his time and every waking hour on’.
That change in dynamic ultimately became the central theme of Howe’s sit-down with the press on Friday at Adidas headquarters in Germany. There were repeated questions about the vacant England job, but Howe tellingly referenced ‘Newcastle’ a whopping 19 times and all within a similar context. How he was ‘very proud’ to be in charge. How he has not thought of anything else. How he wants to stay if he feels supported.
Rather than a ‘burning sensation’ to be England manager, Howe instead spoke of the desire to win a trophy for Newcastle ‘burning inside’ of him – but there was a caveat.
“I absolutely want to stay, but it has to be right for me and the football club,” said. “There’s absolutely no point in me saying I’m happy staying at Newcastle if the dynamic isn’t right.”
It was the most striking remark from the half-hour chat on an afternoon Howe admitted the ‘boundaries of relationships and how they’re going to work is slightly unclear’. That was, of course, a reference to the arrival of Mitchell and performance director James Bunce, who were very much club appointments. As they should be, in truth.
It is important to stress that Howe hailed the ‘very strong’ Mitchell as exactly the sort of person Newcastle need to ‘take the club forward’ while Bunce has been ‘top class’. However, the Newcastle boss also added that he was working every day with the ‘new people’, who have been a visible presence on the touchline at training, to see if these relationships can be ‘beneficial’ to Newcastle.
That may seem a pointed statement, but Howe has built up a power base at Newcastle and linked up with trusted figures in coaching, sports science and recruitment, who know his way of working and who he trusts implicitly. Establishing a way of working with new colleagues, particularly at senior level, takes time – not least if aspects of your own role potentially change as a result.
This is a man, after all, who previously did not take the job at Celtic because he could not get his staff together. The alternative of working with new coaches, and feeling each other out over several months, was too much for Howe given the immediate pressure he would be under.
Now Mitchell and Bunce have arrived in influential positions at a crucial juncture in Howe’s reign following a ‘very difficult’ summer in the Newcastle boss’ own words. The club’s PSR issues, and the very real threat of a points deduction, were only the tip of the iceberg and Howe has keenly felt the departure of allies Amanda Staveley and Mehrdad Ghodoussi, who even offered ‘help in various deals we have done’.
“It’s difficult because they have been incredible for the football club along with everyone else,” he said. “It has been a real team effort since I have been here. I built up a strong relationship with them. They were very active and vocal and supportive – not just for me but with staff and players.”
Jamie Reuben has stepped in and visited the club’s training camp this week. Howe has also spoken to the PIF and declared that ‘everyone should be very excited about what is ahead for Newcastle’.
But what happens off the field this summer will ultimately have a big say on what happens on it in the coming months following a shake-up behind the scenes. “We have to set our boundaries,” Howe added. “We have to see if we can work together.”
