Respect within squad key to building team spirit, boss explains
EDDIE Howe has made it clear he will not tolerate any inflated egos in the Newcastle dressing room – and has praised his squad for their professionalism.
The Magpies head coach has turned things around at St James’
Park off the pitch as well as on it, going to great lengths to build team chemistry.
United, who face Tottenham Hotspur today (4.30pm kick-off ), have escaped the relegation places and are fairly close to securing their Premier League status for another season.
While some players have been away on international duty, the bulk of the squad – even unregistered players Ciaran Clark and Isaac Hayden – flew to Dubai for their second warm-weather training camp of the year.
The first one was followed by a lengthy unbeaten run as the squad came together to reel off an impressive string of results.
“It comes back to the ‘respect’ word”, Howe said. “If you’re not in the team, you’ve got to respect the player that is in the team and you’ve got to wait for your opportunity, and just how you behave day to day around the place.
“I’ve got to say, we’ve got some very, very good professionals here, we’ve got some great, great people. If you’ve got great people, you’ve got a chance of creating a great team.”
As well as bringing in a number of new stars in January, Howe has also managed to transform the fortunes of some of the players he inherited.
The 44-year-old has brought Switzerland defender Fabian Schar back into the team, helped his old Bournemouth charge Ryan Fraser find his best form in a black-and-white shirt, and brought the best out of £40million man Joelinton, among others.
Expanding on his methods, Howe said: “If a player isn’t happy off the pitch, in my experience they’re never going to perform well on it.
“It just goes hand in hand, so when you identify a problem, you need to understand what that problem is and then try to find a solution.”
Howe has also tried to get to know his players better by asking them to fill out a form about their lives off the field.
He said: “You’ve got to know about your players’ private lives, you’ve got to know do they have kids, what makes them tick.
“Loads of different factors that can go into making a player happy or unhappy off the pitch, and you have got to try to find ways to help them.
“One of the big areas of growth as a club is trying to improve our infrastructure to support the players.” A number of United’s players have already saluted the changes brought about by Howe since he arrived in November, with life at the club much happier than under Steve Bruce.
Howe added: “It’s something that we really like to do. We like to find out about players’ personal lives and their history.
“There’s a lot I might think I know about a person, but then when they start to talk about themselves and their childhood and certain things that have happened in their life, you find out a totally different view.
“It’s very healthy not just for me to know that but the rest of the squad, and it can start relationships and conversations about things that normally wouldn’t happen.
“We’ve had some really interesting talks and you find out a lot more about the players’ character. It’s a very healthy thing we do, I think.”
Loads of different factors that can go into making a player happy or unhappy off
the pitch, and you have got to try to find ways to help them
Eddie Howe