Newcastle United are still on the hunt for their next manager after sacking Steve Bruce following their defeat to Spurs two weeks ago.
Bruce was relieved of his duties as Newcastle ’s manager after going winless in his first eight Premier League games, as the Magpies dropped to 19th in the Premier League table.
Since Bruce's departure, the new ownership on Tyneside has been linked with a long list of potential candidates, including Eddie Howe, who is the current favourite for the job, and Unai Emery.
Emery has since ruled himself out of the running for the Newcastle job after releasing a statement via social media on Wednesday afternoon confirming he will be staying at Villarreal, despite strong rumours that he was the Newcastle's owners preferred option to join the club.
So, with Bruce now gone and the managerial position up for grabs, which of these two managers would have the best outcome as Newcastle United manager?
To have a look, we simulated the remainder of this season in Football Manager 2021 with both managers in charge of Newcastle United.
Newcastle United's season with new managers simulated
To set up this simulation, we ran two simulations where we arranged for Eddie Howe and Unai Emery to take the Newcastle United job at the start of November and simulated until the end of the 2021/22 season to see how they performed, on Football Manager 2021.
We also edited the Football Manager 2021 game save file to update all transfers as of November 3, 2021.
We also removed Mike Ashley as the club's owner, replaced him with the new ownership structure and made a number of changes, including setting the new owners as Sugar Daddy (foreground), which means they will back the club in the transfer market and increase the club's reputation, allowing them to attract more high-profile players and managers.
These are Howe and Emery's in-game profiles on Football Manager 2021.
Howe's (left) and Emery's (right) in-game profiles both boast impressive attributes, but it seems Emery has the best profile in Football Manager 2021 overall.
The Spaniard has better tactical and mental attributes, whilst Howe betters Emery in his attacking coaching and man-management.
Howe prefers setting up his side in a preferred formation of 4-2-3-1, whilst Emery looks to use a tiki-taka tactic setting up in a 4-3-3.
So, where did Newcastle finish in both simulated seasons? Let's take a look.
Newcastle United's 2021/22 season
Eddie Howe
Howe took Newcastle to a 14th place finish in the Premier League after taking over the club in November, helping them escape the relegation zone and finish four points clear of the drop.
Sealing Premier League football for next season was a huge achievement considering the situation he joined the club in and would allow Howe to start to shape the squad to his liking in the summer window ahead of his first full season in charge on Tyneside.
The Magpies were one of the lowest-scoring teams in the league, tallying a total of 36 goals whilst conceding 56 goals.
Newcastle were beaten 1-0 by Antonio Conte's Spurs side in the third round of the FA Cup as Howe then turned his attentions to bringing in a number of loan signings to strengthen the playing squad.
Howe brought spent a total of £12million in January, bringing in Fred (Manchester United), Omar Richards (Bayern Munich) and Curtis Jones (Liverpool) on loan, along with Ryan Fredericks (West Ham) for £3million.
Bringing in loan players suggests that Howe could not find the right players to bring in halfway through the season, but would rather wait until the summer to utilise Newcastle's wealth.
At the end of the 2021/22 season, Football Manager 2021 put together an overall best Newcastle XI, based on performances, statistics and other metrics.
This is what the Magpies’ best XI looked like at the end of the 2021/22 season as predicted by Football Manager 2021.
Newcastle's best XI: Darlow; Manquillo, Lascelles, Clark, Lewis; Shelvey, Willock; Saint-Maximin, Almiron, Fraser; Wilson.
Newcastle's best XI under Howe didn't feature any of his loan signings or permanent deals as they joined the club in January and did not play the entire season on Tyneside.
Unai Emery
So, where did Newcastle finish in the Premier League under Emery? Let's take a look.
Emery took Newcastle out of the relegation zone to a comfortable 14th place Premier League finish, scoring 45 goals and conceding 55 goals in the Magpies' 38 league games.
Compared to Howe's season with Newcastle, Emery's side scored nine more goals and conceded one fewer, finishing with five more points but in the same league position as Howe.
Emery took Newcastle to the FA Cup quarter-finals, where they were narrowly beaten at home by Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool, which was a far better performance in the cup than Howe managed.
So, who did Emery sign in January to help strengthen the squad?
Similar to Howe, Emery opted to save most of his funding for the summer transfer window ahead of his first full season on Tyneside as he brought in PSG duo Thilo Kehrer and Layvin Kurzawa, along with Youssouf Fofana from Monaco for minimal fees in January to strengthen his defence and midfield options.
The Spaniard also brought in Watford attacker Emmanuel Dennis on loan until the end of the season after letting Matt Ritchie leave to join Burnley.
At the end of the 2021/22 season, Football Manager 2022 put together an overall best Newcastle XI, based on performances, statistics and other metrics.
This is what the Magpies’ best XI looked like at the end of the 2021/22 season as predicted by Football Manager 2022.
Newcastle's best XI: Dubravka; Lewis, Kehrer, Lascelles, Manquillo; Longstaff, Willock, Shelvey; Fraser, Wilson, Saint-Maximin.
New signing Thilo Kehrer features in Newcastle's 2021/22 best XI after only signing for the club in January, proving he was an exceptional signing by Emery judging by the Frenchman's performances in the second half of the season.
Final Verdict
At the end of both Howe's and Emery's simulations, Football Manager 2021 predicted that although the Spaniard was the better candidate and had the better performance as Newcastle boss, Howe did still keep the Magpies up spending a minimal amount in January.
Emery's signings had more of an impact than Howe's, but the key thing to note is that both finished 14th in the Premier League, suggesting Howe did a brilliant job with the squad at his disposal and looked to plan for the future, as well as the short-term.
Who do you think should be the new Newcastle United manager? Let us know in the comments below!
