TalkSPORT blabbermouth Jason Cundy has now questioned whether Eddie Howe is on borrowed time after failing to progress in the Champions League.
So, in a reversal of how we'd normally do things, let's start with the quotes, shall we? Then we'll go on to shoot down every single point he makes.
"I know how brilliantly Eddie Howe has done. I know what he's done..."
Okay, good start Jason.
"But that's where they see themselves, and rightly so. The owners have come in, they've done a brilliant job, they've got the right players at the right time and moved them forward. They brought Chris Wood in, Chris Wood did great for them and they moved him on when they went up to the next level. This Champions League campaign has been pretty poor.
"This campaign has been a bit of a disaster. All I'm saying is, I think in a private room they'll look at this and say 'Is this good enough for where we want to be?'. On the evidence of what we've seen, Newcastle in Europe this season: nowhere near it!"
Buckle up, Cundy, even though you'll probably never read this, but this is why you're wrong. Also, Darren Ambrose could have done a bit more to defend his former club here, but that's just based off this one clip, he might have gone on to shut him down.
We will agree that everything Cundy said up until "This Champions League campaign..." was accurate, and we appreciate the compliments, but then it's just pure nonsense beyond that.
It was a Champions League campaign that saw us draw 0-0 in the San Siro against AC Milan, batter Paris Saint-Germain 4-1 at home, almost snatch a win in Paris were it not for a shocking VAR decision in the closing stages and then, with a side running on empty, almost toppled AC Milan.
That's not a poor campaign, especially when you factor in the sheer amount of injuries we've had to deal with. The fatigue levels of the 10 outfield players who haven't had a rest in weeks, and of course, the fact that this was our first Champions League campaign in 20 years and Eddie Howe's first-ever foray into the competition.
To suggest that Amanda Staveley, Jamie Reuben and the representatives from PIF will be sitting around conspiring about getting rid of Eddie Howe after saving the team from certain relegation in half a season then the very next season getting to a cup final and a top-four finish you must be off your nut.
Okay, so we didn't get out of the group stages of the Champions League. We were in the "group of death" and we held our own. We had 14 players unavailable for half of the games and we still took it down to the last game. We're still in the Carabao Cup going into the quarter-final stage, we're still in the top eight of the Premier League. What more can he do right now?
It really boils our wee-wee when people with zero connection to the club, no idea how it works, the feeling, the understanding between the fans and the board that exists now, can sit and spout off about what the board are going to do.
We're not stupid, we know there will come a time when Eddie Howe and Newcastle part ways, but it's not going to be soon unless something goes drastically wrong. Eddie Howe has built up more goodwill than a chain of US-based charity shops.
PL | GD | PTS | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
1 |
Liverpool
|
6 | 10 | 15 |
2 |
Manchester City
|
6 | 8 | 14 |
3 |
Arsenal
|
6 | 7 | 14 |
4 |
Chelsea
|
6 | 8 | 13 |
5 |
Aston Villa
|
6 | 3 | 13 |
6 |
Fulham
|
6 | 3 | 11 |
7 |
Newcastle United
|
6 | 1 | 11 |
8 |
Tottenham Hotspur
|
6 | 7 | 10 |
9 |
Brighton
|
6 | 2 | 9 |
10 |
Nottingham Forest
|
6 | 1 | 9 |
11 |
Bournemouth
|
6 | -1 | 8 |
12 |
Brentford
|
6 | -2 | 7 |
13 |
Manchester United
|
6 | -3 | 7 |
14 |
West Ham United
|
6 | -4 | 5 |
15 |
Ipswich
|
6 | -5 | 4 |
16 |
Everton
|
6 | -8 | 4 |
17 |
Leicester
|
6 | -4 | 3 |
18 |
Crystal Palace
|
6 | -4 | 3 |
19 |
Southampton
|
6 | -9 | 1 |
20 |
Wolves
|
6 | -10 | 1 |