Comment: All managers leave eventually but Eddie Howe will join the 1% club

Eddie Howe finds himself under the spotlight.

With Newcastle United, the manager never really is anything other than under intense scrutiny.

However, possibly now this moment in time seeing Eddie Howe more under that spotlight than at any other time during his Newcastle United managerial career.

No disrespect to either Bournemouth or Burnley, but when Eddie Howe started work at St James’ Park back on 8 November 2021, he obviously knew that this was going to be very different, the intensity of both fans and media when it comes to the NUFC job.

It is a bit of a strange one at the moment, Newcastle United in a fourth League Cup quarter-final in a row under Eddie Howe, also on the brink of very likely NUFC going further in the Champions League than ever before, yet…

Newcastle United have been very inconsistent in the Premier League and whilst they are not alone in that, in what is looking arguably the most open English top tier for many years, in terms of unpredictable results, anybody can beat anybody type of thing. The fact remains that whilst only four more points could have seen Newcastle United in a Champions League place at this moment in time, the reality is that without those extra four points, United are only 12th in the table and until that is corrected, it is a major issue.

I find it bizarre though that any Newcastle United fan would think it could be a good idea for Eddie Howe to be sacked during this current season.

At the same time, the reality is that all managers eventually leave their club(s).

With Eddie Howe though, I think he is that rarity, he will be joining the 1% club.

Let me explain.

In 22 days from now, it with be the 28th anniversary of one of the most devastating moments many of us have experienced as a Newcastle United fan.

An official club statement on 8 January 1997 declaring;

‘Newcastle United Football Club today announce the resignation of manager Kevin Keegan.

Kevin informed the board of his wish to resign at the end of the season, having decided that he no longer wishes to continue in football management, at this stage in his life.

Following lengthy discussions of which the board attempted to persuade Kevin to change his mind.

Both parties eventually agreed that the best route forward was for the club to, reluctantly, accept his resignation with immediate effect.’

Kevin Keegan released his own short statement after the club’s announcement:

“It was my decision and my decision alone, to resign.

“I feel I have taken the club as far as I can and that it would be in the best interests of all concerned if I resigned now.

“I wish the club and everyone concerned with it all the best for the future.”

And with that, Kevin Keegan walked off into the sunset, never to be seen again.

Well, until Mike Ashley begged him to come and save us/him from Sam Allardyce and possible relegation, only for Ashley to deceive KK and the fans from the very start of that January 2008 Kevin Keegan return.

Kevin Keegan was at Newcastle United (in his first spell as manager) for four years eleven months, arriving on 5 February 1992 and leaving on 8 January 1997.

Eddie Howe has been at Newcastle United for four years and one month, arriving on 8 November 2021 and hopefully here for many more years.

Kevin Keegan was a rarity, one of the 1% club.

He was always master of his own destiny. It makes me laugh whenever anybody refers to him as a serial quitter.

Instead, he was simply somebody who had integrity, who decided himself when it was time to say enough is enough. Somebody who didn’t hang around simply to force a big pay-off.

Instead he was part of that 1% club, managers who aren’t motivated only by the cash, managers who simply believe in doing what they consider is the right thing, for both themselves and their football club(s).

Kevin Keegan did this at Newcastle United, Fulham, England and Manchester City, he was and is one of that 1% club who have never been sacked as a manager.

Which brings me to Eddie Howe 

I don’t think anybody needs to be worried about any concerns with Eddie Howe, when it comes to clinging on for a huge pay-off at Newcastle United.

He will instead be joining that 1% club.

Indeed, more a case of continuing his membership of it. It was Eddie Howe who decided it was time to part company (twice) with Bournemouth after doing a brilliant job across his two spells, taking them from the brink of falling into non-league all the way through the divisions. Then establishing minnows Bournemouth in the Premier League and finally deciding the time was right to take time out of management to recharge and improve his skill set, only when Bournemouth were so unlucky on the final day of the 2019/20 season, when the fates conspired to relegate them from the top tier.

Eddie Howe also of course made the decision himself when he left Burnley in October 2012, though that was for personal/family reasons.

When Eddie Howe leaves Newcastle United

I don’t think Eddie Howe will ever be sacked by Newcastle United.

Instead, my belief is that he will do what Kevin Keegan did, decide at some point that it is the right time, for both the club and Eddie Howe himself.

I hope that this will be many years down the line, especially because that would for sure mean that Newcastle United had continued this amazing success story that we have experienced since Eddie Howe walked through the door. There is no way that Eddie Howe will hang around, if he feels he isn’t the person with the answers, when it comes to how best to take the team and club forward.

We are at such a pivotal stage of this 2025/26 season.

Within these next seven weeks, Newcastle United could have by then booked their third Carabao Cup final in four years, be through to the last 16 of the Champions League, in a Champions League qualifying spot in the Premier League, plus still in the FA Cup.

Or of course, it could also go the other way.

My guess is that a bit like this season so far, by the time we get to a week or so into February, Newcastle United will be somewhere between those two extremes. We will have experienced some more very good moments, as well as the not so good.

What I am confident about though is that in this moment in time, we have the very best person in place to try and guide us through it all.

My faith in Eddie Howe is based on what we have all experienced across these past four years and more, so I am backing him to find the right answers across the rest of this season and beyond.

If at any point he doesn’t think he has those right answers, then Eddie Howe will make the call himself.