HOWE HAS BUILT UP A HAPPY TOON
V 3PM Year of progress for Newcastle
WHEN Newcastle last faced Brentford at St James’ Park, Eddie Howe was forced to watch from a hotel room, having fallen victim to Covid 24 hours earlier.
“It was my most stressful 90 minutes as a manager,” said Howe, who had been unveiled by the club’s new owners only that week.
Since then, Howe, his players and the Toon army have ridden a wave of euphoria as the Magpies, backed by more than £200million of Saudi investment in the squad, have been transformed from relegation strugglers to European contenders.
On the first anniversary of the takeover, Howe said: “The club has come a long way. What hit me first and foremost when I arrived was the positivity of everyone connected with the club and what may lie ahead.
“That positivity is still there and it’s a very difficult thing to keep.”
On the day the Mike Ashley era ended and Newcastle became the wealthiest club in world football,
Howe looked on from afar, little knowing he would soon be riding an emotional roller-coaster.
“I was just watching the scenes like everyone else, with no hint of what was to come,” he said.
“It was nice to see the happiness after some difficult moments and I was pleased for the people.” Within days, Howe was asked if he was interested in succeeding Steve Bruce, only for Villarreal’s former Arsenal boss, Unai Emery, to be the new board’s first choice.
Howe said: “The moment I found out it was myself and Unai going for the job, I resigned myself that it wasn’t going to be mine. You look at his track record and the clubs he’s managed.
“I was relaxed, because I’m a big believer in fate and certain things happen for a reason. “If it was not meant to be, it was not meant to be. I could not get too down about it, even though there was a huge sense of disappointment because I felt Newcastle was the one job I wanted.”
When Emery decided to stay in Spain, Toon director Amanda Staveley swiftly contacted Howe.
Having saved the club from relegation, Howe and the Magpies are upwardly mobile. A win today against a Brentford side they drew 3-3 with in that first match will see them break into the top six.
Now Howe wants to be the man who delivers silverware to the success-starved club, but he said: “I cannot put a timescale on things – that wouldn’t be healthy.
“But my experience tells me things can happen when you don’t expect. Magical things can happen if you really work hard and everything clicks together.
“So I will never say something can’t happen. Football will decide.”