Newcastle United reportedly eyeing Eddie Howe's replacement - We're not buying it

Reports this week have suggested that Newcastle United are looking at Julian Nagelsmann to replace Eddie Howe in the summer.

Let's kick this one off by saying we are not happy clappers, we absolutely will call out things at the club when it needs to be, you've seen how harsh we can be with player ratings.

That being said, the idea that Newcastle would even be considering sacking Eddie Howe after this season is absolutely mental. Sure, it has been a trying season for fans. Our performances have dropped off massively, we went out of the Champions League at the group stages, we only managed to take one point off Premier League newcomers, Luton Town and many more issues.

2023/24 has been a freak of a season and therefore it's not fair to judge Howe ... yet

However, placing the blame for all that squarely at Eddie Howe's feet is nuts - is he in part responsible? Absolutely. Wholly responsible? Not at all.

Reports from German journalist Christian Falk have put Newcastle's name in the frame as a club looking to offer Germany coach Julian Nagelsmann a route back into club football management after the Euros. It's not the first time our name has been linked with the young hotshot manager, but the timing just doesn't fit.

Nagelsmann is a brilliant coach and at just 36 is likely to get even better and would be an amazing coup for Newcastle, but we're just not done with Eddie Howe yet.

We've said it time and time again, this season was always going to be less spectacular than the last and that was before we factored in the crazy amount of injuries Howe has had to deal with. Those injuries have in turn led to Howe relying on the same players for a lot of the season, those players became fatigued and that in turn took away Newcastle's biggest asset - our intensity.

There's no two ways about it, our intensity (that is our identity) is nowhere to be seen this season and that's cost us massively, but it's hard to play to that level every game when your players are absolutely exhausted.

We'd rather wait until Christmas before thinking about wielding the axe

Going out of the Champions League was hardly Howe's fault either. Again the injuries played a part, but there were other factors at play too. Number one being the absolutely shocking draw that saw us lumped into the "group of death", but then there was the officiating that cost us dearly in two games in that group.

In both domestic cups Newcastle have been given a rough ride and are now set to face defending champions Manchester City in the FA Cup quarter-final, on their turf which is not a happy hunting ground.

Basically, this season has felt like a case of what could go wrong will go wrong, but we're still hanging on in there, we still have plenty to play for and that's more down to Eddie Howe than anyone else. He has somehow managed to sail us through these mini-crises and kept the ship afloat. Yes, we've got people with buckets baling out water constantly, but we're still on the surface.

Next season is going to be the one that truly determines Howe's fate. Provided there are no more freak occurrences and Howe can just get on with the job as normal, we'll see where we truly are. With no Dan Ashworth to argue with and hopefully, no massive injury list to navigate, if Newcastle aren't in and around those European places come Christmas next year, we can then start talking about a new manager.