Hold your nose and it’s impossible to say Howe isn’t one of the very best
FIRST things first, the situation in which a grand old footballing institution such as Newcastle United is owned by a financial arm of the Saudi state should still turn the stomach of anybody without an allegiance to the club.
And the stomachs of plenty of those who do have an allegiance, to be honest.
Just because Saudi involvement in professional sport is becoming more and more widespread – Britain’s No.1 tennis player, Cameron Norrie, has just signed up for an exhibition event in Riyadh – does not make it any more palatable.
But, while Eddie Howe has shown himself to be one of a multitude of sportsmen and women who couldn’t care less where their lavish remuneration comes from, he has also shown himself to be as talented a homegrown coach as there is out there.
Perhaps even as talented a coach as there is out there.
The news that the owners are putting another £70million into the club reinforces the importance of serious financial backing when it comes to making a club a success.
And there is no doubt Howe has had – and will continue to have – the benefit of considerable investment, but his coaching and managerial expertise should get equal billing with the Saudi money.
If Pep Guardiola luxuriates in the credit for improving so many players, then so should Howe.
There are plenty of examples but Miguel Almiron is the obvious one.
Darren Eales is now the chief executive at St James’ Park, but in January 2019 he was the Atlanta United CEO who sold Almiron to Newcastle United for a fee of £21m.
At the time, Eales was telling anyone who would listen that Newcastle were getting a gem, a player tailor-made to flourish in the Premier League.
So, what happened under first Rafa Benitez and then Steve Bruce, mystified Eales.
Under Howe, however, Almiron has gone from laughing stock to gilt-edged stock.
The same can be said about Joelintion and there have been sizable improvements in the consistency of several others over the one year Howe has been in charge.
But there is a less tangible, equally important, aspect to Howe’s positive first 12 months on Tyneside.
He gets it. Just as Jurgen Klopp gets Liverpool but maybe not in such a demonstrative manner.
He gets the fans, he gets the city, he gets the club.
And, no matter how nauseous it might make many of us, he gets the so-called ‘project’.
This is why Everton should have pursued Howe instead of making the utterly ludicrous appointment of Benitez.
The ‘project’ is, quite simply, making a great club great again. On the field, at least.
Howe is not passing through, Howe is not just there to load his wheelbarrow with cash (although that bit is, no doubt, nice).
In football terms, you get the feeling he is there to leave a legacy.
The legacy that will be left by the Saudi ownership is another matter and Howe’s willingness to work for that ownership, meekly accepting the heinous sins of the regime that supports it, is nothing to be proud of.
But if you really want to look past the money, past the human rights issues, then you will see a manager who is confirming what many have suspected for some time.
He could be one of the best around for some time to come.