When Eddie Howe said goodbye to Bournemouth, those in red and black had just returned to the second category of English football. They lost 22 of the 38 games they played during the 2019/20 Premier League, but the message that was trending that August 1, 2020 was #thankyoueddie (thanks Eddie). Not surprisingly, the team had made history under his tutelage. He sat on the club’s bench for the first time in December 2008 at the age of 31. Despite his inexperience and despite the -17 points with which Bournemouth had started the campaign by suspension, Howe avoided leaving the professional soccer club and entering bankruptcy. Key was the streak of three consecutive victories at the end of the course. Six years later, the Vitality Stadium played games of the highest category in club history. And he managed to avoid burning for five campaigns in a row. This will be your first and foremost goal when you start your time at St James’ Park.
Those who worked under the new Newcastle United manager speak of a methodical man who likes to keep all aspects of his team under control and leaves no task unresolved. A guy who lives by and for his work, who never tires of giving orders and who, when he left Bournemouth, dedicated himself to spending time with his family while continuing to train for his return to the benches. In this year and a half, Howe has taken the opportunity to study the methods and ideas of clubs and coaches, not just the UK. In addition to looking at coaches like Brendan Rodgers or Arsène Wenger, there were two coaches who welcomed English into their respective offices in Madrid: Diego Simeone and Andoni Iraola. Two different realities, but that inspire a man who from now on will receive much more attention than he is used to receiving. Creativity, fighting spirit and also improvement. One of the main assets in favor of Eddie Howe that is wielded on the banks of the Tyne is his experience when it comes to gambling in the lower zone of the table.
He has just over two and a half years of contract to start laying the foundations of a project that restores joy to a hobby that is missing rubbing shoulders with the greats of England. It will be his second experience away from Bournemouth, where he remained for 25 as a player and then as coach of the Dorset Coast club. In January 2011, with the Cherries vying for promotion to Championship, the second category, Howe took Burnley’s call. It was a complicated stage, more in the personal aspect than in the work one. He lived away from his family for the 18 months he was working at Turf Moor and lost his mother just a few months before starting this adventure. Although the sporting results were not accompanied, his signings ended up being very useful to his successor Sean Dyche.
He signed Ben Mee, who has become the club’s captain and emblem. It also attracted footballers who in addition to performing for the Lancashire club came to wear the jacket of the English team, such as Kieran Trippier, now at Atlético de Madrid, or Danny Ings, who would later play for Liverpool. Bet on an attractive and daring football, something that would excite the parish of St James’ Park if in the future they also follow the results. For the moment, pragmatism rules. Bring Newcastle United out of relegation and lay the foundations to reach higher heights in the future. His will also be the responsibility of restoring trust and generating a good relationship between the dressing room and the stands. He already did it in Bournemouth, where he ended up establishing himself as a fundamental figure of the club. Only he knows his first impressions of his new team after watching them draw at Brighton’s home from the box on Saturday. And only time will tell if the first bet of the Saudi consortium that owns the club is the right one after receiving the blow from Unai Emery.
For the moment awake illusion. Magpies legend Alan Shearer described Howe’s signing as “smart” on BBC Radio 5 Live microphones this weekend: “They’ve signed a man who knows the league, who knows what it’s like to work in those positions. . He understands the league and knows that Newcastle United is a great club. He will come with energy, I think he is a very intelligent signing ”.