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The new manager thread


Polarboy
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I think I was a little disappointed at Howe after who we were linked with.  But like countless people have said 14 years of neglect have added so many complexities to this job.

 

If they give Howe anything larger than an 18 month contractor I will be wondering why.  he should be seen as a short term manager.

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Howe impressed Newcastle with his detail and plans – will he get the nod to lead new era?

Eddie Howe, Newcastle United
By George Caulkin 3h ago 80 
They got it wrong and they know it. From the start, the new owners of Newcastle United admitted they would make mistakes — if buying a club is hard, then running one is harder — and this was a misstep made in public. Having gone through a thorough recruitment process, they settled on Unai Emery as their first-choice candidate as head coach, but their pursuit broke big and early and without agreement, the Spaniard backed off and here they are, picking up the pieces.

The good news? They promise to learn from it and to improve. Amanda Staveley, Mehrdad Ghodoussi, Jamie Reuben and Yasir Al-Rumayyan, Newcastle’s ownership group, are committed to rebuilding a club from the inside out and are doing it without a football structure in place. They are doing it on the run, with a myriad of decisions to take and positions to fill. There was always a recognition that the early days may be rocky.

They are convinced, too, that although things got messy on Tuesday evening — perhaps the messages and the reporting were too strong — by the end, they had done all they could to secure Emery’s signature. In another round of talks with the Spaniard’s representatives early on Wednesday, it is understood they offered to meet every condition, including financially. Ultimately, it was Emery’s decision. Having expressed positivity during interviews, he withdrew.

The bigger picture, though, is one of no excuses. The owners set the tone when they arrived, talking about winning silverware within five to 10 years and although that is not where Newcastle are at present — they are in the thick of a relegation battle, without a win of any kind this season — it is a standard they will be judged by. They asked fans for patience and they got it. Now, they have to deliver and they are not casting blame elsewhere.

Amanda Staveley, Mehrdad Ghodoussi, Newcastle United
Staveley and Ghodoussi know mistakes have been made (Photo: Serena Taylor/Newcastle United via Getty Images)
The better news? That although deliberations about replacing Steve Bruce were long and exhaustive, they have faith in the mechanism that got them there, which saw them speak to Paulo Fonseca and Roberto Martinez and plenty of managers who did not reach the media, before they whittled their shortlist down to a final two. They believe their pitch to candidates has been sound and are satisfied with where it has led them.

With Emery recommitting himself to Villarreal, the La Liga club, Eddie Howe now comes to the fore. There may be some pushback given the excitement Emery generated among Newcastle supporters, a man who has won 11 trophies in his career and is now knee-deep in a Champions League campaign, compared to a manager who was most recently relegated at Bournemouth, but there are other, fairer, more rounded ways of viewing it.

We should also present this caveat: at the time of writing, there is no agreement with Howe, either. Whether they can get there, we will have to wait and see, but no bridges were burnt with the 43-year-old or the people around him. Understandably in the circumstances, timescales and few other particulars are being offered, other than a sense of optimism that Howe would be a good fit for Newcastle’s predicament and that talks continue.

Internally, it was always acknowledged that Howe interviewed better than Emery on Sunday, that he offered details and specifics about what he could do to lift the team from near the bottom of the table. Emery spoke in generalities and, in the end, his calibre and CV is what swung it for him, but Howe had a plan, talking about players they might target in January and his ideas regarding coaching and analytics and where Graeme Jones, the assistant manager, would fit in.

And although this might be met with some cynicism — again, not surprisingly, given that we were listing reasons why Emery was so well-suited to Newcastle 24 hours ago — the vote between Emery and Howe was said to be narrow. Another aspect in his favour is that, at Bournemouth, he worked with Callum Wilson, Matt Ritchie and Ryan Fraser, three players who have been in the starting line-up under Jones and will be pivotal moving forward.

On face value, Howe’s finishing positions in the Premier League are underwhelming — 16th, ninth, 12th, 14th, then 18th and relegation. Isn’t he more of the same after Bruce? That interpretation does not reflect Howe’s success in lifting Bournemouth from League Two to the top division, nor in keeping them there for so long. Every club has its context and Bournemouth’s was huge overachievement. At Newcastle it is the opposite and if Howe gets his chance, he will be given a chance.

These are still early days for Newcastle’s new regime, but they need to adapt to football’s rules and rhythms; Reuben, who sat on the board at Queens Park Rangers, is the only one who has real experience of it. Games and weeks are ticking by. They need more than a manager; they need football people at the training ground, seeing what they have, setting things up, offering players some clarity. They need expertise and decision-makers. They need to get going, but they know that, too.

 

 

Caulkin in the Athletic

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Just to close the Emery page. (Spanish Media)

 

Looks like Emery wanted the job. But he wanted to do things right, in time, step by step. Newcastle had a conference with him between Sunday and Monday. Emery was convinced, but things had to go slowly and well, because Villarreal played in the Champions League on Tuesday. Newcastle assumed Emery would be in town by Wednesday and sign the contract.

Emery felt a lot of pressure on Tuesday, he felt very overwhelmed and did not like the situation. He did not like that Newcastle did everything so quickly because he had to leave a team that was playing in the Champions League and that has only won one title in its entire history and it was thanks to him months ago.

Emery, after the Champions League game on Tuesday, even told the players that he had an offer from Newcastle and that he was leaving. The players asked him not to leave.

But when he finished the game and started reading all the news from the last few hours, he felt very bad that Newcastle had done everything so quickly. When he arrived at his house, around 2 in the morning, he had a talk with the president of Villarreal and there he decided to reject the offer.

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6 minutes ago, wykikitoon said:

This talk of Howe working with Wilson, Fraser and Ritchie.  So what?  Wilson is the only one who should be starting for us IMO.  

I think if Howe arrives, Ritchie would be starter as a winger. 

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Caulkin and others dropped the ball and they're now trying to put the wheel back on so that they don't lose that line of contact as a result. 

It does sound like Howe is about to be appointed given that Caulkin has said it's been whittled down to 2, suggesting the others didn't make the final cut. 

We might be all here in 6 months time eulogising about Howe's ability to turn things around. To say at this stage that he should only be a short term appointment makes us sound entitled and like the typical Talksport wankers from the top 6. As it's been mentioned further up this thread, until we start seeing progress and some money going into projects like the training ground, stadium and signings then we really don't know what being  the richest club in the world actually means. 

If Howe gets the team firing and we like the football then he sounds like what we all asked for years ago when we wanted entertainment and application. The ex Bournemouth lads have probably had their day on their former manager so they have first hand accounts of how he works. 

 

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Let's give him the benefit of the doubt, eh? He says that what he is reporting today is something he already had knowledge of earlier in the week. Caulkin has more self-respect than to become a lick-spittle imo.

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It’s a tricky appointment because of the state of the club’s weak football side compared to the now rock solid financial  side. 
 

It’s not possible to duplicate what Chelsea and City did because of FFP and there being a lot of other owners willing to spend. 
 

The single most important thing to do right now is get the right Football structure in place so as to make good decisions about how to build the team and who to hire and buy. 
 

Look at the mess Moshiri has made of Everton and you’ll get a good sobering realization that spending money brings no guarantees if you don’t do it right. 
 

MUFC suffer from this as well spending more than anyone else but falling well short of the EPL title and UCL. Great players but no proper football structure has them performing well below expectations. 
 

I think Howe could be a good choice to get things started here if he is backed by a good football structure and commitment to a serious and well thought out plan.
 

At this point however I don’t see much progress being made in building that corporate football structure. No way Ashley’s people should still be in important jobs with the club. 

Edited by Bubbapid
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10 minutes ago, ewerk said:

Let's give him the benefit of the doubt, eh? He says that what he is reporting today is something he already had knowledge of earlier in the week. Caulkin has more self-respect than to become a lick-spittle imo.

Absoluley.

 

Caulkin is one of the best jurnos out there and respected.

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I kinda feel like we can't really blame Emery for backing out. It's a high risk job at the moment with massive downside for him (and us) in that we could very well still get relegated. Add to that the only moderate upside considering we (almost certainly) won't be in a position to compete for major silverware for a good few years yet. Of course, it's possible that a manager like Emery comes in and stays for a decade and everything is rosy, but it's much more likely, I think, that when/if we do win something it'll be on the second/third manager once everything non-football related is in place.

 

It's probably better for someone like Howe to be (at least at first) the canary in the coal mine for everyone's sake. An appointment that's a little more sobering might temper expectations for a while and that's not the worst thing ever since there appears to be a lot of the nitty-gritty of running a football club properly that still needs to be sorted out.

 

It might be the case that Howe will struggle to attract the type of players that a bigger name manager may have got over the line. That maybe is a downside but it's also possible that any players we get in prior to a restructuring of everything won't be the ones that win us anything anyway. Personally, I liked the way Howe went about things at Bournemouth (as far as I bothered to pay attention during my recent sabbatical from football). His teams played attractive football and he seems a smart operator. And, on top of that, it'd be nice to see a younger manager come in, do well, and build his reputation alongside the club. And, most importantly, for now, 'doing well' means avoiding relegation. Howe is more than capable of achieving that goal.

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18 hours ago, Polarboy said:

 

According to who, Jose Havengottaclucio of the No Marka sports pages?

According to Keith Downie of Sky Sports News.

 

Bambaclart

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1 hour ago, ewerk said:

Let's give him the benefit of the doubt, eh? He says that what he is reporting today is something he already had knowledge of earlier in the week. Caulkin has more self-respect than to become a lick-spittle imo.

 

Agreed. I criticised him in the past for not wanting to criticise his mates in the NUFC setup, but his heart is in the right place, unlike toxic cunts like Luke Baldwards. I genuinely believe that Emery indicated he was ready to take the job, then changed his mind after winning the CL tie. If they'd lost that he'd have come IMO. I think he's a good coach, but also somewhat a flake. 

 

That's not to say Staveley and co are blameless either, they should have kept quiet for another 24 hrs. But they fought a long hard battle to get here, I would also give them the benefit of the doubt. They need proper football people handling all this, and I would expect them to appoint them ASAP.

 

If Howe wants the job, then he's a better man for us than Unai Wummery. 

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3 minutes ago, Polarboy said:

 

It's bambaclat ya fanny.

Para bailar la bamba
Para bailar la bamba se necesita una poca de gracia
Una poca de gracia pa' mí, pa' ti
Ay arriba y arriba
Ay arriba y arriba
Por ti seré, por ti seré, por ti seré

Yo no soy marinero
Yo no soy marinero, soy capitán
Soy capitán, soy capitán

Bamba, bamba
Bamba, bamba
Bamba, bamba
Bamba

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In fairness there are at least several spellings of the term, but none of them are spelled the way fish spelt it. I'm also assuming that he's not Jamaican, so maybe some of the Labour lads in the politics section can get on to him for cultural appropriation 😉

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  • Polarboy changed the title to Who do you want as the next manager? Howe, for now.
  • Meenzer changed the title to The new manager thread

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