Eddie Howe has revealed he came across an "open book" when it came to the squad of Newcastle United players he inherited 12 months ago.
Speaking to Jake Humphrey on the High Performance Podcast, which is released on Monday, Howe has described the scene as he took over as boss in 2021 when Newcastle were at rock bottom in the relegation zone.
In a candid interview he stated that he was surprised that the squad were open to new methods and that there were no trouble causers in the group.
Howe told High Performance : "When I arrived I wanted to focus on the positives. The last thing I wanted to do was come here and look at anything negative. What did I find? "I found a really hard working group of players.
"A group of players that wanted to do really well. "A group of players that wanted to be coached which surprised me. They were talented."
After inheriting some high profile senior stars, some of which who'd had spats with previous management, Howe admitted he was pleased that the squad wanted to improve and bought in on his managerial methods. The ex-Bournemouth boss said: "Coaching is a delicate one with experienced players. There were a lot of players mid-20s early 30s.
"You can go one of two ways with that, be left alone and be allowed to play. Or it's 'how can you make me better'. I was so pleased that it was the latter. It was 'what can you do for me and my career?' and finding an open book.
"A lot of the players were like that and it gave us a great start point to bring our work and bring our methods. And try to improve the team. And I saw a lot of talented players. They were good lads, there were no problems with discipline and nothing we couldn't put right with a few simple rules."
The full interview will go live on Monday on the High Performance Podcast channels
Podcast link: http://www.podfollow.com/highperformance
YouTube Link: https://www.youtube.com/c/HighPerformancePodcast/videos
