Was listening to TalkSport and something subtle but really interesting came out of the mouth of Danny Murphy. I know, I was shocked too. He was (predictably) bigging up Liverpool but the conversation was a little about Klopp and a bit about Poch. The words he used when talking about Klopp was that he constantly uses "charged" words in the press, in conferences, and is really alive/animated on the touchline and it got me thinking that you could say ALL successful managers follow this template, and all unsuccessful ones simply don't. No prizes for guessing the category the likes of Howe, Potter, Poch, sit in. Look at the characters who have consistently won trophies, the way they conduct themselves and the things they win. Guardiola chief amongst them, but also Klopp, Jose, Conte, Sir Alex, Trappatoni, Ancelotti and on and on. There's a way about managers that set them apart - we've got someone you wouldn't think was out of place coaching your local U-11's. He sits there, scribbles on paper, looks anguished then gets into a press conference and pulls out the most banal, beige sentences you can imagine. Why are the fans so entrenched behind this bloke, just because he had a lucky season (after spending £200m)? Why is it "Eddie Howe's black & white army"? He's uninspiring, uninteresting and unsuccessful (unless promotions are the yardstick). At this point, I no longer get it. The football is dross, insipid. The ability to spot a player is shocking. Identity of the team has vanished, transfers have been pathetic. The loyalty to Champ level players is embarrassing. He's very rapidly making us look like mugs, again. We're back to being the team you want to play against, the easy fixture, the predictable opponent, the perennial under-achievers - why does anyone, given the promises of Staveley, the wealth of our backers and our commercial explosion, want this? It's like we're stuck in a vortex of "well, it's better than Bruce" as if a Mike Ashley-owned club is some yardstick to measure anything against. I mean, if we're doing that, why not argue it's on a par with Pardew, except Pardew had 1/5 of the budget? We need a character, someone the World listens to, someone opponents look at with envy, someone the fans can truly get behind, who uses charged language to inspire the fanbase, who inspires the team from the touchline, who makes the big calls and doesn't suffer fools or **** footballers. Eales et al need to ****ing wake up if there are genuinely aspirations of trophies and being a top 6 club.
A big part of all this is Newcastle United have been absolutely **** for 20 years. Howe is the first manager to come in, play football like the old days (on the front attacking). We have a history of hounding out managers and are also desperate to remove that stigma, that's why people are shouted down when they speak about things like that. As a club, we have a fanbase that almost universally has never experienced a trophy, only top 4 finishes. That's why people reacted lukewarm to the League Cup final embarrassment, but buzzed and buzzed about 4 CL games. Its all we know. My position hasn't changed much in 2 years since Howe came in, nice stepping stone manager while we make more money. I'd be satisfied if this was his last season, I'm ready for an upgrade. I think most of the fans however want to give him another crack.
Eddie Howe is boring, never answers questions with honesty and never defends the club. The likes of Klopp and even Ten Haag have been seen to publicly bully Howe and he did NOTHING. He wimped out and turned the other cheek. When it went wrong at Bournemouth he just went into his shell and he's doing the same here. Where is this guys fight man ? I don’t seriously any he never seems brave enough to show any whatsoever.
Ten Haag is just as bad. Good coach, but just a small man in a big coat. Is Ten Haag, Howe, Potter, Cooper, etc., in the running for the L'pool job, or the City one when the time comes? The likes of Ange and De Zerbi are talked about with far higher regard than Howe, even though only one of these three qual'd for the CL - doesn't anybody wonder why? I don't even know where we get the "hounding managers out" tag from - we've done it badly once, with SBR. Since KK came in 1991, we had Dalglish bringing in his mates (sound like anyone you know today?!), Gullit dropping Shearer, Alan Pardew dancing around in 13th. Nobody wanted Rafa gone. Then Bruce turned up. Anybody telling me it was the fans fault to jump on idiots like Gullit and Bruce, or Ashley's stooge Pardew, is bang wrong. Pardew was only hounded because of the hate for Ashley and left because of Mike, not the fans. Besides which, who gives a **** about stigma like that? There's far worse fan bases - Chelsea, Spurs, West Ham. I just think we're blindly settling for someone who is clearly not a winner.
