Eddie Howe’s power play after summer of change

Eddie Howe spoke as a man out to prove a point when talking to the media scrum at the Adidas headquarters, issuing a demand to be backed by the club.

Since Gareth Southgate left his position as manager of the men’s national team, there has been ever present speculation that Eddie Howe was one of the front runners with the FA. A constant noise and worry for the majority of the Newcastle faithful. The noise growing ever louder after his internal allies Amanda Staveley and Mehrdad Ghodoussi left their positions as board members on 12th July. All the time, Newcastle fans only wanting to have one question answered, will Eddie Howe be in the dugout come the beginning of what is going to be a pivotal season for the club?

Now Staveley and Ghodoussi have left, there has been the swift directorship appointments of Paul Mitchell and James Bunce. Mitchell, being the transfer guru for the likes of the Monaco and Tottenham should provide active participation and strategy in player recruitment supporting the manager. Bunce who aided in Monaco overhauling their player fitness crisis, similar to Newcastle’s in the 23/24 season. Both figures, should provide best in class experience.

These appointments or bold and forward-thinking approach from the club. However, in Staveley and Ghodoussi, Howe had close and vocal allies in the boardroom and largely had control over most aspects of the first team set up. This has been a constant and stable since the takeover.

Eddie Howe could be considered a control freak, being in charge of his and the club's own destiny, being hyper organised along a roadmap of progression. On 12th July 2024, all of that changed. The face of the Newcastle ownership was gone, and a new internal hierarchy emerged where there was the potential of Howe’s control and structure becoming diluted.

This change is considerable and has the potential to tear up the operational rule book that has been deployed thus far. All of this, in the wake of England losing another European Championship final and Southgate resigning. Eddie Howe’s name linked again with the England job, leaving fans wondering what is happening at the club and desperate for communication.

Fast forward a few days, Newcastle are in Germany, taking advantage of their rekindled relationship with Adidas at a summer training camp at Adidas headquarters. Eddie Howe hosts a number of journalists. Like fans, with one main question on their lips; Are you interested in the England job? And how does the future look in the wake of internal changes?

The response from Howe was as bullish as we have ever seen him, saying ‘I’m honoured to be manager of Newcastle United, I hope that is for many, many years’. This was a sentiment that was continuously through the press junket. This was followed by a but and one that has divided fans, ‘it has to be right for me and the football club. There’s absolutely no point in me saying I’m happy staying at Newcastle if the dynamic isn’t right. I’m certainly not serving Newcastle well if I do that'.
The response certainly raised eyebrows. Curious what the landscape is going to be moving forward. There is reason to be optimistic. Howe has called the acquisition of Mitchell and Bunce as ‘great appointments’, and it is still early in this process of adjustment. With questions remaining regarding structure and processes. What Howe can be sure of is that a systematic, data driven approach will be implemented likely with Howe given final blessings for what happens with the first team.

It is natural for all involved to be uncertain given the level of change in key areas of the club, but this does not mean it’s a foregone conclusion. Howe’s stock is high and loosing his voice in the boardroom has led him to uncharacteristically use the media to his advantage, ‘back me and show my loyalty, and you get the same back’. This should be a clear indication that England is off the cars under one strict condition, the hierarchy at Newcastle United must back Howe, not only in the transfer market but in the day-to-day management of the first team.

Providing this is done, it would be sensible to assume Eddie Howe will be willing to delegate and relinquish responsibilities for the betterment of the club. If this can happen, then the dynamics can be right for Howe to continue managing Newcastle for many, many years to come.