Eddie Howe clear to manage Newcastle at Arsenal after negative Covid test
Eddie Howe will make an unexpected return to the technical area at Arsenal on Saturday after returning a negative Covid-19 test in time to take charge of Newcastle United in person for the first time.
Newcastle’s manager has been isolating in his Tyneside hotel suite since testing positive during a routine club screening last Friday. He was forced to miss last Saturday’s 3-3 draw against Brentford at St James’ Park, delegating managerial duties to his assistant, Jason Tindall, and seemed set to be absent until Tuesday night’s home game with Norwich.
UK government regulations require anyone recording a positive result to isolate for 10 days and 11 nights from the day of the test unless they can trace the onset of symptoms to an earlier date and then test negative at least 10 days later. The resultant paradox is that asymptomatic people often end up in quarantine for longer than their symptomatic counterparts.
As Howe originally thought he was entirely asymptomatic there seemed no escape from isolation until Tuesday morning but club medical stuff are understood to have identified the mild sore throat and slightly hoarse voice he complained of early last week as the onset of symptoms. Howe apparently believed his throat had merely been irritated by persistent shouting at players during training.
On Friday morning Tindall said Howe had displayed mild symptoms, complaining of fatigue between
Sunday and Tuesday, but had recovered. He said Howe had “followed all the protocols” and been “very surprised” by last Friday’s positive result. “You want your leader, you want your manager there. We’ve missed seeing the manager out on the grass and we’re looking forward to having him back.”
With Newcastle bottom and seeking their first win, Howe was said to be immensely relieved to be allowed to join his squad on their flight to London on Friday afternoon.
Given Newcastle declared their manager asymptomatic after his positive test eyebrows may be raised in certain quarters but the Premier League has no objections to his appearance at Arsenal, explaining that each case is judged individually. Club doctors at Newcastle and Arsenal are happy for him to be at the game.
Newcastle have tested their players and staff every day this week but all have come back negative.
Tindall, who revealed Howe had taken a key role in planning training this week, telephoning him about six times a day, explained his own unusual experience after contracting Covid two months ago. “I had no symptoms to start with,” he said. “And it was only after about eight or nine days after testing positive that it hit me hard and I began to struggle.”