sport news IAN LADYMAN: It's dramatic and unfair but can Eddie Howe afford to miss out on ... trends now
Mark Hughes is doing a fine job in League Two with Bradford City but was once in Eddie Howe’s position as manager of one of the richest football clubs in the world.
Back in 2008, when Sheikh Mansour of Abu Dhabi bought Manchester City, Hughes was in charge and when we met last summer he looked back fondly but also with educated eyes.
‘I should have spent even more on players,’ he laughed. ‘And I should have realised how quickly the club wanted to move.’
The second point was the serious one. Hughes was trying to put foundations in place but City’s owners wanted progress in return for their money and at the first sign of regression, in the winter of 2009, they sacked him. The Welshman had been in charge for 18 months.
At Newcastle, Howe is doing good work and will get longer and possibly a new contract. He has been at St James’ Park since November 2021 and has the club in fifth position with two games in hand on Tottenham, the team above them.
Eddie Howe has done a great job but must ensure he secures Champions League qualification
Howe will be aware that his side may not have a better opportunity to finish in the top four
Newcastle's co-owners Mehrdad Ghodoussi (L) and Amanda Staveley (R) will be expecting to challenge with England's elite in the future
Howe’s efforts could not have been more impressive. Newcastle were in danger of relegation when he arrived. Nevertheless, the opportunity that presents itself now is not one he would wish to miss.
Champions League qualification was not a priority this season. It was not expected. But now that it’s a possibility, it feels as though Howe needs to get his team over the line.
Consider the likely Premier League landscape next season. Manchester City and Arsenal are unlikely to regress. Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea can be expected to improve. Tottenham? Well, they could go either way.
The picture of a stronger, more competitive, top four is clear. So if Newcastle do not manage it this season, there is no reason to suspect it will be any easier next time. They have been terrific.
Their current points tally of 47 after 26 games would have had them in or around the top four last season too. Nevertheless, this year’s table has been undeniably warped by issues at Liverpool and Chelsea and by the early days of a new era at Old Trafford.
So Newcastle need to be amongst it this time round. The club — Saudi-owned — is fabulously wealthy but under the same Financial Fair Play restrictions as anybody else.
So the tens of millions of pounds available to Champions League clubs — drawn from prize money, ticket sales and TV income — will form part of Newcastle’s summer spending if they can qualify.
And that’s before we even start to talk about the magnet that Champions League football represents for European players looking to move club.
The Magpies are currently fifth in the table but can go third with a win on the weekend
Howe will be reminded of the similar situation that Mark Hughes found himself in at Man City
Newcastle is a superb city but not fashionable in terms of elite footballers. It falls a good way behind London and a distance behind Manchester. That makes it harder to sell to players. Money helps. But so does Europe.
The challenge to Howe now, therefore, is clear. Take Newcastle into the Champions League this season and he can bed himself in. If he doesn’t then the start of next season begins to look very important.
Any sign of a stall or a change in the trajectory of what he has already started on Tyneside and he automatically begins to appear marginally less secure.
This sounds dramatic and premature and unfair and it is indeed all of those things. If Newcastle beat United at St James’ Park on Sunday evening they will be third. It sounds extraordinary even to say that.
They have been to Wembley in the Carabao Cup final already. Whichever way you look at it, that represents success. However with that success comes a change in
