Last Friday (8 Nov) was the three-year anniversary of Eddie Howe’s appointment as Newcastle United head Coach. The club celebrated with a 30min YouTube video which pulled together a lot of the best bits and the current crop rocked up to the City Ground and came away with three points and a shift in the media narrative surrounding the club.
Well, the astonishing Eddie Howe effect on United’s trajectory was brought into focus earlier in the week by a league table of points taken in the three-year period of his reign. United sit in overall fifth place with their 193 points accumulated only bettered by the usual suspects… and Spurs.
- 1st: Man City – 273 points
- 2nd: Liverpool – 247 points
- 3rd: Arsenal – 241 points
- 4th: Spurs – 197 points
- 5th: Newcastle – 193 points
- 6th: Man Utd – 191 points
- 7th: Aston Villa – 182 points
- 8th: Chelsea – 174 points
Considering we were rock bottom of the Premier League and winless in fourteen games when Howe took over, to see the overall points total in black and white is confounding and astounding that it is as good as it is.
It’s a wonderful statistic, worthy of praise and the highlight reel of the last three years would certainly make fine viewing, although there is no need to go over the specifics again here.
However, it’s now incumbent upon the gaffer to prove that he is the man to take the club onto the next step. Football isn’t played across calendar years and the important split in that points total is 71 points in 2022/23 and 60 point in 2023/24. We all know the factors that played into the eleven points drop off but United must try and replicate the difference Aston Villa made up between the same two seasons (8 points) a difficult task but one which isn’t insurmountable considering Villa qualified for the Champions League with just 68 points last year – three less than it took us to in 2022/23.
The Premier League is shaping up to be an incredibly tight league this year with 3rd-13th separated by a mere four points and United have a pleasing run on paper after the international break which also includes a home game against Liverpool and an opportunity to close the gap on the teams above us and cement a top four place going into the new year. Eddie How currently sits on 193 points gained as United head coach – if by the end of the season the figure is pushing 260 then we’ve got an excellent 2024/25 ahead of us.
HWTL
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