Like many on The Mag, I have not been shy of expressing my frustration during matches with Newcastle’s recent performances.
At times, it seems incomprehensible how we can go from battering teams, to desperately hanging on, literally within the same match.
The amount of points Newcastle United have conceded from winning positions is enough to make a grown man cry.
However, when you look at how difficult it has been for Thomas Frank (without doubt a decent manager) to turn around a failing club like Spurs, a club which finished 17th last season, it shows what a remarkable job Eddie Howe did saving Newcastle United from relegation.
Unlike Thomas Frank at Tottenham, Eddie Howe didn’t have the benefit of a summer transfer window or a pre-season and Newcastle were in a much worse state; 19th position with just five points from 11 games. No club had previously overcome such a desperate start to the season.
For those who think it was all down to money; Spurs have spent around £230m since Frank was appointed. Newcastle spent around £90m in the winter transfer window after Howe’s appointment.
I think sometimes, amongst the frustration of patchy performances this season, we forget how much we owe Eddie Howe.
He has been here just over four years. In that time he’s saved us from almost certain relegation, qualified for the Champions League twice, won Newcastle’s first major domestic trophy in 70 years, and taken us to Wembley twice (one win, one defeat). Five years ago that would have all seemed like a dream.
He was badly let down by Alexander Isak in the summer, a player whose career he took to a new level, and has had to deal with recent turmoil at board level.
Despite the wealth of the Newcastle United owners, our ability to spend and indeed hang on to our emerging talent, has been brutally handicapped by PSR (Profitability and Sustainability Rules).
So my view is that Eddie Howe deserves time to sort out the problems Newcastle United currently face. If that makes me a ‘happy clapper’; I’ll willingly accept the label…