Eddie Howe has transformed Newcastle from relegation certainties to top-half candidates in less than four months. After a difficult start - with just one win in his opening 10 games - the fruits of Howe’s labour on the training ground are finally paying off and Premier League football next season looks a formality.
It is easy to forget just how perilous the table looked when the former Bournemouth boss arrived on the scene at St James’ Park. A 1-1 draw with Brighton in November left Newcastle winless and five points adrift from safety - despite playing a game more than 17th-placed Leeds.
Fast forward to the present and the Magpies are second in the form table, unbeaten in eight, have won five of their last six games - conceding just five goals in the process. Howe’s achievement has seen him nominated for the Premier League’s manager of the month award for February.
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However, in November, approval for the 44-year-old was not universal and several pundits were critical of his appointment. Some suggested he wasn't the right fit for Newcastle and pointed to his relegation with Bournemouth.
In his SportsKeeda column, Paul Merson wrote: “Eddie Howe is evidently going to become the club’s manager this month but I don’t think that whets the appetite of the Newcastle fanbase. I like Eddie Howe as a manager, but I’m not sure he’s going to rock the boat with the players at his disposal.”
The sound of his name ringing around St James' Park dispells that and, while he was able to add to his squad in January, it's the transformation of existing players, such as Joelinton, Ryan Fraser and Fabian Scar, which has attracted much praise.
Danny Mills was one who pointed to his most recent track record with Bournemouth. “He didn’t do great for Bournemouth by the end, it didn’t quite work out,” Mills told Football Insider. “It’s going to be tough, it’s difficult. They played nice football at Bournemouth but is he the man to get them to mid-table playing decent football? Probably.
“Is he the man to help them survive? Phwoar, I don’t know. I’m not 100 per cent sure I’m convinced by that. That will be an interesting one to see how it works out. Is Eddie Howe the right man for survival? I’ll take some convincing. They (Bournemouth) went down because they didn’t have a solid defence. His last job was relegation. Are you going to put the job of staying up on someone who’s just been relegated?”
On talkSPORT, Simon Jordan said at the time: “The argument that Eddie Howe should be somehow diminished by the fact that he is second, third or fourth (choice) on the list, football managers do not care about those sorts of things. In an ideal world they like to be the most important person in the room but he will be the most important person in the room when he gets the job, if he does a good job for them.
“But the fact that he is being given an opportunity, which I am not entirely sure he merits, will be more of a concern for Eddie Howe because the opportunity will be significant. With respect, Eddie Howe’s last achievement was to get Bournemouth relegated and seemed to not have the chutzpah to go and manage Celtic. So, all of those things do not give him the same credentials as Unai Emery and we will all have to accept that.”
Newcastle still have a way to go yet before everyone can relax on Tyneside. But the fact Howe has already dispelled several myths about his abilities bodes well for the future.
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