Howe to go back to the basics

SHORT-TERM FOCUS KEY

EDDIE HOWE will plot Newcastle’s Premier League survival with the same basic tools he applied 13 years ago to keep former club Bournemouth in the Football League.

Toon director Amanda Staveley has already pledged to apportion a hefty slice of the Saudi-financed budget into upgrading training facilities, which are rated among the most basic and out-of-date in the top flight.

That’s expected to provide a state-of-the-art structure befitting the world’s richest football club.

But Howe’s focus is strictly on the short-term, admitting that Newcastle’s current plight is so precarious he can’t yet look ahead to the days when the Magpies are competing for the best players on the planet.

So he’s more than happy to get by with wheelie bins being used as ice-baths and sending injured players to a nearby David Lloyd gym as part of their recovery programme because Newcastle don’t have their own pool.

Howe considers himself at the cutting edge of football’s latest technology and has spent recent months honing his own coaching techniques.

But the 43-year-old remains a traditionalist when it comes to everyday work on the training ground – and feels confident he already has at his disposal the core ingredients which can keep Newcastle in the top flight.

He said: “It is the work on the training pitch that is the important thing. All you need is grass, some balls and ideally some bibs and then you just have to implement what you want to do.

“That’s not to say you don’t crave the best infrastructure, the best facilities and all the best things for your players.”

And he admits he looks forward to the day when the club is able to show off the fruits of its new-found wealth.

“You do need to treat players in a way that they expect,” he said. “And you need to give them no excuses so that when they play on a Saturday, there is a reason why they underperform.”