Eddie Howe has been speaking to UEFA.
A huge week and a half ahead for the Newcastle United Head Coach.
Eddie Howe interviewed by official UEFA media as the play-off looms.
Newcastle United away against Qarabag on Wednesday.
Then at St James’ Park the following Tuesday.
The winners of the two-legged tie go through to the Champions League last 16.
UEFA official media asking Eddie Howe how he would sum up his four years three months at Newcastle United so far: “Exhilarating”, I suppose, is a really good word to use because it has been an incredible time. I have enjoyed every second of it. It has been, overall, a lot of success. But at times, you’re on the edge because it’s such a demanding club, in such a positive way. There are high expectations, there are high demands set upon us to achieve success and to keep winning, which is a great thing, and we have really tried to respond to that. It’s an amazing club to be a part of and to manage. We consider ourselves very lucky. It is exhilarating and I hope that remains the case.”
Newcastle United continuing to compete on three fronts.
In the Champions League, United are one of six Premier League clubs still in the competition.
When asked to name the Champions League coach he has learned the most from, Eddie Howe: I’m going to say Pep Guardiola because whenever you go against his teams, they have been the most rewarding learning experiences. And the majority of those have been in the Premier League, and they have been some tough experiences for us, trust me. They’re such a difficult team to prepare for, but it’s only with hindsight you look back and go: Well, we learned and developed a lot from either going against his teams and seeing how they play or reflecting on how we did against them and then trying to come up with a plan that makes us stronger next time. Sometimes, from the hardest experiences you learn the most. And, for me, he’s been the best coach that I’ve ever come up against.”
Eddie Howe has been at St James’ Park since November 2021.
This season was also going to be a huge challenge especially with all the additional obstacles placed in the way of the United Head Coach. Especially Alexander Isak’s behaviour and the fact five of the six summer 2025 signings arrived too late to have any pre-season with their new teammates.
Eddie Howe asked about his Newcastle United team’s development: “It is a new team and I felt that at the beginning of this season. We went through a cycle of three and a half years together with the same group of players, and there was a lot of turnover in recent transfer windows, the summer being the big one. In some senses, we’ve started afresh. We have been trying to gel and find the best way of working with those new players. I would say we’ve improved and we’re going in the right direction but there’s more to come. I’m really excited about the future with the team, but at the moment, we’ve still got some more gears to go to be at our very best. The first year we had in the Champions League two years ago was just an amazing experience all round to be in it, but now we want to do well in it. There’s a different feel this year. We’ve really enjoyed the teams [we’ve played], they’ve been tough, but I think they’ve made us a better team because of it.”