Allan Saint-Maximin shares ‘moving’ Eddie Howe story – “I’ve never seen someone do that”

During a controversial interview with French Magazine So Foot, Allan Saint-Maximin revealed the unique and emotive way Eddie Howe managed to galvanise the squad and bring the team together.

According to the Frenchman, upon his arrival, Howe asked the squad to “write down what we loved in life” and to speak in front of everyone about their own life story.

He reveals how it allowed for some “very moving moments” and no doubt offered a deeper insight into some of the players who may not be as vocal at the club, shining a light on each individual.

The 25-year-old believes that “it allowed us to be more together” and looking at our run of good form – in particular our six home victories in a row – it would be difficult to argue with that statement.

Read the full quotes below:

“When he arrived, he gave us a piece of paper and asked us to write down what we loved in life, the names of our kids, things like that…

“I must have had minimum seven or eight managers, and I’ve never seen someone do something like that!

“He also instilled moments where each player must speak in front of everyone and tell their life story, talk about their childhood…

“There have been very moving moments, we learned a lot of things about our teammates and staff that we had no idea about. It allowed us to be more together.

“Eddie Howe is really strong at building relationships and you can feel it on the pitch.

“Without that, I don’t think we would have managed to climb back up the table like we did.”

Following a period of controversy and some naïve comments about his fellow Toon teammates, this offers hope to supporters that Allan Saint-Maximin is on board with what Eddie Howe is trying to create on Tyneside and a big fan of his style of man management.

One thing’s for sure – Howe has done a superb job at bringing the players closer together and clearly values the importance of a close-knit group.