Eddie Howe has made it clear he is committed to his current role at Newcastle despite links with Man United and Chelsea in recent days
Eddie Howe before a Newcastle United match(Image: Nathan Stirk/Getty Images)
Newcastle United boss Eddie Howe has nailed his colours firmly to the mast at St James’ Park in light of fresh links with Manchester United.
Howe was on a list of possible candidates after the sacking of Ruben Amorim and also won approval from Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt who said they’d give the Newcastle boss the thumbs up if he replaced the ex-Sporting Lisbon man. As reported by Chronicle Live yesterday, Man United would be hit with an eight-figure compensation hurdle to lure him away from his current role.
But Howe has made it clear he will not walk away from Newcastle despite any suggestions he is on the Man United shortlist.
When asked about Man United, Howe, speaking at his Press conference, said: “Yes, absolutely. Nothing has changed from my perspective. I’m 100 per cent here, working as hard as I can, head down, ignoring all the stuff that you guys write, good or bad, because it’s irrelevant.
“It’s about today’s work and trying to prepare the team as well as we can for Leeds, so that will never change from my perspective, my commitment to my work and my job.
“As long as I’m happy and able to express myself in the best way that I can to help the team, nothing will change.”
When asked if anything can tempt him away from Newcastle, Howe said: “No, not at this current time. The most important thing for me is happiness in the role, happiness in the job. The relationships I have with the people around me.
“Now, that’s not always been consistently good and things can change at any football club. But, at the moment, I am very happy. We have made some great appointments in the roles we needed to fill and as long as I can express myself in the best way possible, the best version of myself to help the players and the club (I’ll stay).
“Because ultimately, for any club to be successful, there has to be unity from top to bottom and a good feeling between everybody. I’ve had an unbelievable relationship with the board here since I’ve come to the football club and that’s never changed.
“I consider myself very lucky to have that because there are very few managers that have the time to build those relationships and to have the confidence and trust within each other. I think that is really important and if you have all those things, you have a higher chance of being successful.
“There is no guarantee, but you have a higher chance if those relationships are working. I’m very happy and I hope that continues for a long time.”
But Howe also went a little bit deeper about the prospect of a long-term plans in football, not least after two managerial casualties in Enzo Maresca and Amorim have left ripples in Premier League waters this winter.
Howe, with a smile, said: “I laugh because longevity is such a strange one because you don’t set out to have a timeline, you set out to win games. It’s always the next game, then the next. You are working week to week and game to game.
“Of course you have to have a longer-term vision and you have to plan well. You have to see what your team looks like in the future.
“You have to have good relationships around you. You have to have good relationships with the players. You have to have a mixture of all those things. That has led me to this point now and at my previous job.
“I don’t know whether longevity is going out of the game in the role that I am in; somebody might tell me some stats that contradict that.
“It feels more difficult to stay in one place for a long time because I think attention spans and appetites for seeing the same person all the time, is less attractive these days.”
The Press conference then rowed back to Howe’s words back in summer 2024 when Dan Ashworth was replaced by Paul Mitchell and the topic of “boundaries” arose. Howe was asked if he could see his way through four more years.
Howe laughed: “Four more games (laughs)! I don’t tend to do that.
“I didn’t do that from the minute I came in, really. When coming to the football club I hoped for a sustained opportunity to do the job and prove myself and to do the job I thought I could do, but the first task was to stay in the league and we knew that if we didn’t achieve that then there wouldn’t be a part two and that’s sort of how it works.
“You’ve got to keep hitting your objectives, you’ve got to keep hitting your targets, stage by stage. If you’re able to and enjoying it and people want you to stay then you stay and you enjoy what’s to come.
“Four more years? I don’t know. Let’s just try and navigate through this season first.”