If you haven’t read it already, Alan Shearer’s interview with Newcastle United boss Eddie Howe is an absolute must-read.
We’ve picked out some of the brilliant quotes that emerged from their in-dept chat for The Athletic, seeing the 44-year-old talk all things NUFC alongside our former number nine.
Howe discusses his ‘love’ for the fans and people connected to the club, his ruthless drive for success at St James’ Park, our start to the season – where he feels we’ve “deserved more” – his post-match frustrations at Anfield and trophy dreams on Tyneside.
The former Bournemouth boss also talks about his wish to unite the club from top to bottom, believing it’s vital that we celebrate our past and welcome back heroes – believing this only encourages current players to give everything in a bid become a big part of our history.
Here’s some snippet we picked out of Howe’s brilliant chat with big Al:
Howe on his ‘love’ for the club and fans:
“I’ve fallen in love not just with the place but with the people as well.
“Immediately at the training ground, the first people you meet going in, you think, ‘I wonder how this is going to go…’, but I’ve loved them from minute one. I don’t know how they feel about me, but I certainly love them!
“And then the supporters, obviously, that connection we’ve grown to have a good feeling off each other. I love the fact it’s all about Newcastle. I love that intensity.”
Howe on his drive for success and that ‘us against the world’ mentality:
“I’m not in it to be popular or anyone’s second team. I’m in it to try to win, to create a culture and environment where we don’t accept anything other than winning.
“To do that, you can’t be labelled nice or soft touches and that means doing everything to get that win. At times, that might be unpopular with opposing teams, opposing supporters, referees.”
“That feeling of us against everyone else. I’m trying to create that internally, but I don’t think we’re having to force it. It’s something we can feel in Newcastle. There are a lot of people who want to knock us and criticise us and probably don’t want us to be successful. We’ve got to embrace that.”
“I’m trying to build the unity we need, not just with the players I’m working with and the staff and supporters, but through the whole city, that we’re all together, that we’re all united against everybody else. To say, ‘Come with us on this journey as we try and fight everyone for success’.”
Howe on our league position (11th) six games into the season:
“It’s not been a true reflection of our performances. We’ve deserved more.”
Howe on managing his frustrations after a host of big decisions have gone against us:
“That’s not one of my strengths.
“After the Liverpool game, the ending lived with me… it’s probably still with me now. And it may be one of those moments that you never truly move on from.
“I was replaying the last couple of minutes over and over in my head thinking, ‘What could we have done differently?’. And then you go to Saturday with that VAR decision and the number of chances we missed…”
Howe on trying to control his emotions:
“I control it, I think. I am a very emotional person and I’m more emotional as I’ve got older, probably like we all do. If I put a film on… I’ll cry straight away over something like that! I think it’s maybe when you have kids, you see life differently.
“But when it comes to football I’m able to control my emotions very well on matchdays because I’m always thinking about what my players need.”
Howe on trophy ‘dream’ at Newcastle:
“If I said, ‘Right, we’re going to win a cup this year’, people would look at you and say, ‘OK, you’ve made a statement and now you need to back it up and if you don’t, you’re in trouble’”
“I’d like to think I’ve gone a different way and said that is my dream. I’m not here to just exist. I want to make a difference. I want people to talk about the team we’re trying to create in years to come.”
Howe on uniting the club from top to bottom:
“When I say I want to unite the club, I really mean it. Celebrating our past, celebrating past players, managers, heroes of the club, that has to be part of what you do. You want players to look at it and go, ‘I want to be the next Alan Shearer, I want to be talked about’. You can’t do that if the club’s split. It’s impossible.”
