Jamie Carragher says he would be 'staggered' if The FA make this error regarding England job

Gareth Southgate has today stepped down from his role as England boss which has booted the doors open for speculation around the future of Eddie Howe as Newcastle United manager.

Newcastle's CEO Darren Eales has been quick to get out ahead of the speculation saying that the club remains committed to Eddie Howe, but even the most defiant of statements will not stop the speculation.

Indeed, Jamie Carragher has already written a piece for The Telegraph saying he'd be 'staggered' if The FA don't approach Howe about the role.

Eddie Howe's name is right up there as one of the favourites to replace Southgate, so Newcastle fans are in a for a bumpy ride until the appointment is made.

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Darren Eales has made Newcastle's position clear

There is a strong belief that Eddie Howe's head could be turned now that Amanda Staveley has left the club as she was perhaps his biggest ally in the boardroom.

However, Darren Eales was adamant that he doesn't want Howe going anywhere and even mentioned that Howe had signed a new deal as recently as last year.

We're fortunate really that Howe tends to ignore outside noise and doesn't get involved in reading speculation, otherwise, his head would be massive right now after reading what Jamie Carragher has said.

Eddie Howe is the frontrunner by a distance according to Carragher

Carragher believes that Howe is the only man for the job:

"There is one standout candidate to replace Gareth Southgate. It has got to be Eddie Howe. For me, he is the front-runner by a distance.

"The problem for the Football Association is whether Howe considers it the right time for his career to leave Newcastle United. He will have much to think about if the offer comes. I would be staggered if it does not. None of the other leading contenders comes so close to being the right fit."

The reasons Carragher wants Howe at England are the same as why we want him at Newcastle

Carragher goes on to call Howe a safe pair of hands and praises his brand of football and handling of the media. He also notes how the younger players will respond to Howe in a similar fashion to how they did to Southgate.

It's hard to argue with his points, but they are precisely the same reasons we want to keep Howe at Newcastle.

We still believe it's probably too early for Howe to take the role. He's very hands-on as a manager, loves the day-to-day, first in the office, last to leave, so trading that in for international management which has much more downtime just doesn't seem like the right fit for him at the moment.

The fear will always be whether Howe will consider this his only chance and whether or not he's willing to roll the dice and stick with club management a bit longer before hopefully being approached again in the future.