The big Newcastle United issue – and a journeyman's return
Eddie Howe is under scrutiny at Newcastle United amid an inconsistent season – as a familiar face prepares for a St James' Park return.
A month or two ago, I wrote that Eddie Howe was not the problem at Newcastle United.
The club was 12th in the Premier League. Howe’s side had had an underwhelming start to the season following an equally underwhelming summer transfer window.
At the time, it seemed clear that the main issue was underinvestment, due to the Premier League’s Profit and Sustainably Rules (PSR), against a backdrop of boardroom and backroom change at the club.
The issue isn’t Howe. The issue is under-investment in those windows in which the club has been constrained by PSR.
Newcastle, thankfully, responded to back-to-back defeats by impressively beating Chelsea in the Carabao Cup and Arsenal and Nottingham Forest in the league.
That unbeaten run was ended by a home defeat to West Ham United late last month.
Last week, a terrific performance against Liverpool – Arne Slot’s league leaders were held to a 3-3 draw at St James’ Park – was followed by a 4-2 defeat away to Brentford.
And the club, again, is 12th in the Premier League table. The team has been consistently inconsistent.
Howe might not be the problem, though there has, inevitably, been speculation over his future, but there are on-pitch problems to be addressed. The team, so resolute defensively in Howe’s first couple of years, has given away too many sloppy goals.
Newcastle cannot keep going from the sublime to the ridiculous and expect to progress this season.
Howe knows this better than anyone.
The return of Sven Botman, back in full training following a long spell out through injury, will lift Howe and the team, but the club’s problems this season have largely been down to collective rather than individual failures.
Intensity is the identity under Howe, but United haven’t always pressed as high and hard as the club’s head coach would like.
Alan Shearer, in his latest The Athletic column, labelled the Brentford loss as a “failure of energy and implementation”.
Energy, under Howe, is all-important.
Transfer ‘desire’
And this brings us back to the issue of squad renewal. To play the high-energy Howe way, there has to be a degree of squad renewal every year. The team has to evolve every window if it is to stay competitive.
Constrained by PSR, there hasn’t been enough renewal. Each year there needs to be a reset of sorts, and Howe himself has spoken about the resulting “staleness”.
Howe, a manager who is always open to moving players in and out to improve the squad’s overall strength, was asked before the Liverpool game if a January signing would freshen up the group.
“I think there’s a desire from everyone at the club to deliver that,” said Howe.
“I think freshness is important in a squad, I won’t sit here and deny that. There needs to be a certain element of trading in and out to keep the group dynamic new.
“A new dynamic and a new team always has to form every season. Sometimes, the same squad can produce a staleness and a negative product. So, I think we’re aware of that.”
Everyone’s also aware that Newcastle remain constrained by PSR as commercial revenues still lag those of the established top four.
And Howe, tellingly, added: “It’s what we’re able to do that is the key thing.”
Somehow, the club, which has dramatically increased its commercial revenues since the 2021 takeover, must find more money to back Howe while staying within the PSR framework. That is the biggest challenge for the club’s hierarchy.
As Shearer says in his excellent column that Howe, preparing his team for Saturday’s home game against 16th-placed Leicester City, cannot escape scrutiny, and that, of course, is correct too.
Howe, working without the distractions of European football, must get more out of a largely-fit squad.
The 47-year-old, though, remains the best man for the United job. He is part of the solution, and not the problem.
There will be a familiar face in the away dugout when Newcastle United kick off their FA Cup campaign next month.
The club was handed a home third-round tie against League Two club Bromley, managed by Andy Woodman.
And the tie, which will be played on Sunday, January 12 (3pm kick-off), will be broadcast live on BBC iPlayer.
Woodman spent more than fours years at St James’ Park as goalkeeping coach, working under Alan Pardew, and the club is still close to his heart.
Last week, I spoke to Woodman – who guided Bromley to an unlikely promotion last season on the back of an FA Trophy win in 2022 – for The Sun.
“The club’s everything to me,” said Woodman. “I moved to Newcastle having never been there in my life. I moved all my family to Newcastle, having never lived out of London.
“(Then-Newcastle goalkeeper) Steve Harper said to me ‘you’ll never want to leave’, and I didn’t want to leave. I would’ve stayed at Newcastle forever and a day.”
Woodman – who eventually followed Pardew to Crystal Palace – is immensely proud of his association with United.
The 53-year-old added: “For a lower league journeyman goalkeeper to then be a coach at Newcastle United, one of the biggest clubs in the world, was an amazing thing for me.
“Whether I was or wasn’t good enough, or whatever anyone’s perception, I gave it everything.”
Woodman will now bank on his team giving everything in the money-spinning cup tie.