I have knocked together this article about Eddie Howe and the Newcastle United owners replacing him with a ‘proven winner’, in response to an interesting piece that went up on The Mag earlier today (Wednesday).
The article was by ‘BarrowMag’ and titled ‘Saudi Arabia PIF had their Newcastle United plan and 4 years in it did not feature Eddie Howe’…
The author talked about how he thinks that the original plan of the Newcastle United owners was to bring Eddie Howe in for a limited period of time, then replace him with a ‘proven winner’ in the not too distant future.
Rather bizarrely, with that not having happened in almost four years, BarrowMag thinks that this past summer would have been an ideal time for Eddie Howe to have been replaced, having won a trophy and got Champions League qualification for a second time in three seasons.
He believes that if the Newcastle United owners had at that point had their new CEO (David Hopkinson) and Director of Football (Ross Wilson) already in place, then they would indeed have replaced Eddie Howe, with someone else, ‘proven winner’ or a not so obvious new manager
I found the article interesting, although I didn’t agree with most of it, which of course is the great thing with The Mag. There are articles from countless Newcastle United fans and why should we all think the same, that would be really bizarre!
There is a reason why they are called ‘opinion’ pieces. It is that one person’s opinion and I enjoy reading probably 90% of the opinion articles that appear on The Mag, including the ones that I disagree with.
Proven winners
What I wanted to talk about was this idea of Newcastle United employing a ‘proven winner’ to replace Eddie Howe.
I have heard other Newcastle United fans and indeed journalists talking about this idea of having a ‘proven winner’ to take the team and club to the next level, yet to me it often seems like a lazy thing to say, with very rarely any of these ‘proven winners’ actually named. Who would come in and automatically be expected to do better than Eddie Howe.
In this article today, the author named Carlo Ancelotti or a Guus Hiddink, when talking about ‘proven winners’ in his article.
I checked up and Hiddink has won a lot of trophies, mainly when managing in Holland with PSV. However, he turns 80 later this year and his last couple of jobs were with the China Under 21s and then Curacao, before seemingly retiring in 2021 from football management.
As for Ancelotti, he is ‘only’ turning 67 later this year and appears to be winding down, having chosen to leave Real Madrid and become a national team manager with Brazil. A job that has high demands but far less day to day intensity compared to club football. He has won a canny few trophies but worth pointing out that as well as his age, his last two jobs before Real Madrid saw him sacked by Napoli and then finish 12th and 10th in the Premier League when at Everton.
If for any reason Eddie Howe ever did leave Newcastle United, then I wouldn’t be upset if Carlo Ancelotti replaced him. However, at his age I wouldn’t see it as long-term appointment and with the same resources/players as Eddie Howe, with PSR/SCR limitations, would he really be a magic answer? He certainly wasn’t at Everton.
I think generally though on the ‘proven winners’ front, the names that do spring to mind, are ageing blokes who WERE successful back in the day. Whether that is Fergia,, Wenger, Mourinho, Rafa and so on.
Who exactly are the ‘proven winners’ these days, who are still…’proven winners’? Certainly not any of that quartet named in that last sentence.
There is Pep Guardiola BUT other than him???
Premier League ‘Big Six’
I think to give this idea of Newcastle United appointing a (mythical!) ‘proven winner’, maybe it will enlighten us to look at who the ‘Big Six’ have appointed in recent times.
After all, these are the clubs with far more money than Newcastle United, that they can spend on transfer fees, wages and ‘proven winners’…
Pep Guardiola is long-term at Manchester City of course, so we need to focus on the other five.
Arsenal
Mikel Arteta was recruited from Man City, he had never managed before and was Pep’s assistant.
He has now been at Arsenal since 2019 and apart from winning the FA Cup in his first season there, has win nothing since.
Chelsea
The last couple of appointments have seen Chelsea bring in Enzo Maresca who had only managed in the Italian second tier and English Championship previously.
The Chelsea owners then sacking Maresca and replacing him with Liam Rosenior, who had only managed previously in the Championship with Hull, before then in France with Strasbourg, the club the Chelsea owners also own. He spent only one full season there and finished seventh in the weak Ligue 1, despite the massive help given by the Chelsea association, helped out with players etc.
Spurs
They have just sacked a manager who had made his name at unfashionable Brentford and won no major trophies there, his only other managerial experience in Denmark.
Spurs previously employed Big Ange who had only managed in the weak leagues of Australia, Japan and Scotland.
Manchester United
Ten Hag had only managed in Holland, Amorim had only managed in Portugal.
Now Man U sick of paying compensation, have taken on Michael Carrick who was sacked from his only previous job at Championship Boro.
Liverpool
Klopp had been at Liverpool long-term but when replacing him, they took on somebody now aged 47 who had only managed previously in Holland.
Proven winners again
If you can’t get moved for all these ‘proven winners’ who are knocking about, you have to ask the question, why are the richest clubs in England constantly ignoring them when needing to make a change???
It is almost as if these ‘proven winners’ don’t really exist, give or take a Pep Guardiola.
You don’t really appreciate what you have got until…
I also love it when you have Newcastle United fans who would happily take any one of a number of ‘promising’ young managers instead of Eddie Howe.
Just blindly happy to dispense with somebody who is still only 48, who took minnows Bournemouth all the way from almost dropping into non-league, all the way through to the Premier League. Then came and saved Newcastle from a near impossible position, before then in his three full seasons so far, getting two Champions League qualifications, two cup finals and one trophy, all against the odds.
Yet Newcastle United fans, some of them anyway, would just without a thought replace Eddie Howe with Andoni Iraola or Fabian Hurzeler, to name but two.
I find it incredible.
People will say, look at these young managers and what they have done with less resources etc etc.
Well, we all thought Thomas Frank was one who could step up. Graham Potter before him and so on.
The fact is that Eddie Howe IS a ‘proven’ success story at Newcastle United already. With far less resources and other advantages the ‘Big Six’ have, he has succeeded against the odds and continues to do so, in very difficult circumstances this season.
Put it this way, if when the likes of Man U, Spurs and Chelsea sacked their managers this season, they would have dreamt of being able to bring in a ‘proven’ success story like Eddie Howe.
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