I noticed someone on The Mag comments section a couple of weeks ago asking for a poll to be run “….. to see who would rather we stuck with Eddie Howe and last seasons direction running into this season and who has converted over to the new Mk2.0 ethos?” This then kicked off a bit of a to and fro with Eddie in the middle.
My reaction to the post was to just think, “Why bother?”. It’s water under the bridge and would be an exercise in hindsight management that even Andy Hinchcliffe would be proud of.
Since then, I’ve seen a number of posts such as, “We would never have come back in that game under Eddie Howe” and “If Eddie Howe had still been with us I honestly believe we would have been sitting with 0 points after the Bournemouth game.”
Again, it’s pointless. Who knows what Eddie would have done with batteries recharged and new players to work with? I mean, it’s not as though we never won games under him, is it?!
Plus, it’s early days.
I have to admit that I am an unashamed Eddie Howe fan. I loved that man and saw him as the perfect fit for our club. Yes, he had a disappointing season in the league last year but I was convinced that he would spend the summer trading old players and recruiting new ones and come roaring back to set the record straight.
Losing him was my worst case scenario and I really felt that I would be absolutely gutted if he was sacked. So much so that I could imagine myself losing interest in team affairs and enthusiasm for the season ahead. But I always maintained that he would jump before he was pushed.
And so it turned out.
What I didn’t know, of course, was Eddie’s state of mind and view of the future – coloured, no doubt, by the determination of arguably our best three players to move on to pastures new, hard on the heels of last year’s debacle featuring the rat formerly known as Isak!
I also strongly feel that he never recovered fully following his time in hospital with pneumonia. Whatever the virus was that he contracted in April, it was obviously virulent and sapped his reserves of energy.
At the same time, he was headed into another season where he was working with a Director of Football. Much as he seemed to get on well with Ross Wilson, it doesn’t seem to be his preferred model.
Credit: Newcastle United FC
Looking back, it seems to be the perfect storm. The club was losing top men but showing an inability to attract players of similar experience and quality due to the effects of SCR and a lack of European football. Eddie was no longer the club’s apex predator where long term strategy and/or transfer selection was concerned. And he was possibly working with a degree of physical debilitation.
So he jumped. But not immediately! By all accounts he wanted to go several weeks earlier but agreed to stay on until a successor was found.
Was I gutted? Absolutely. Was I prepared to down tools for the forthcoming season? Well, not exactly! I was quite surprised at how quickly I accepted his departure and was prepared to get behind the new man
First of all, it was Eddie’s choice to go, which makes a big difference. If he himself felt he couldn’t do any more under the circumstances then the time was obviously right for change.
Second, and crucially for me, the way the club handled things from this point has restored my faith in “the project”.
Ross Wilson has, in my opinion, proven the worth of employing a competent and proactive DOF. Despite the temporary lack of a manager, the club continued to recruit quality playing personnel at all levels – albeit within the strictures imposed by SCR, UEFA’s and the PL’s latest incarnation of the status quo preserver.
Fairly swift negotiations brought Mathias Jaissle to St James’ Park in time to oversee the more meaningful or “sharper” end of the pre season campaign which showed some glimmers of hope with encouraging performances by young lads like Sean Steur and Baz Touré.
The club’s new long term strategy to buy young (and potentially cash in later) means we are less likely to be gazumped by the usual suspects as they compete for the Galacticos in the market. So we can bring in our targets but they are overwhelmingly work in progress and, in most cases, totally inexperienced in Premier League terms.
Jaissle seemingly wants a high intensity, pressing game, a very physical approach which Eddie had to abandon as mounting injuries exposed the lack of depth in the squad. The current squad seems even thinner. Lots of potential but a distinct lack of experience and muscle.
People were quick to give credit to the new boss for playing youngsters and putting Nico straight in. However, Nico is an established PL player. Not a starter at Man City but a regular in the squad. It was notable that Neave and Shahar were still warming the bench and have now gone out on loan. Judged by the new manager (as with the old one) to either be not quite ready or not quite good enough.
Steur and Touré are in a different class and I’m sure Eddie would have been just as likely to be giving them minutes the same as Jaissle. After all, he played a 17 year old Lewis Miley regularly because he was good enough.
When I have brought this up before, some people have immediately claimed he only played him because he had to during an injury crisis. The truth is that Lewis Miley made his debut for the Newcastle United first team on May 28, 2023, becoming the youngest ever Premier League player for Newcastle United. This debut was in a match against Chelsea on the final day of the 2022/23 season. The rest of our team that day was Pope, Lascelles, Schar, Livramento, Trippier, Guimaraes, Almiron, Gordon, Joelinton and Isak. Lewis Miley was subbed on 90+3 minutes, presumably to let him enjoy a standing ovation on leaving the field. Hardly an emergency induction.
So, why am I raking over the Eddie debate whilst exhorting others to let it go? Partly it’s a response to the sort of comments I referred to earlier on in the article but it’s also a warning based on experience.
A new broom has arrived and results, up until Monday night, have gone well so the response on The Mag and elsewhere had been very positive and, in many cases, people have been insistent in pointing out how different the new approach has been.
My contention is that it has only really been different to the extent that the playing personnel available has changed due to a combination of the new buying policy and injuries to some of the more experienced players.
Well received as Mathias Jaissle has been, you can see the knives being readied by some after one, admittedly abject, defeat. Something we all should have expected somewhere along the way in view of the changes the club and team have undergone in the last couple of months.
Suddenly, according to some the manager can’t pick the right team, new signings are not up to snuff and Ross Wilson has paid over the odds as well as covering the wrong positions. Another day in the Land of the Football Forum!
I think this quote from Mathias Jaissle sums things up pretty well. It’s an apt reminder that whatever happens at our club, it isn’t going to happen in one window or with a nice, even, upward slanting curve. It also could just as easily have been said by Eddie Howe.
Jaissle’s on Bazoumana Touré and Aladji Bamba not getting much game time, “It is really clear with Baz, he is a young lad and you see the steps in training. He is really committed but Harvey Barnes has been performing at a high level and so sometimes you get less playing time. It is the same with AB…will give them the time [they need to be ready for the Premier League] and we are not [overly] pushing them into getting more minutes, [instead] we are supporting them.”
We ALL need to support them – and the rest of the squad – through thick (Spurs) and thin (Leeds) because they need and deserve it.
Keep the faith!