It’s been a few months since Newcastle United’s turbulent summer on Tyneside.
A time that seemed to last forever, where legends played out on a global stage and where one person seemed to bear the brunt of the carnage and disruption that our club suffered.
As he constantly faced the media, his attitude seemed increasingly affected by the bomb that had gone off.
Without any immediate structure above him, Eddie Howe, with the help of his chief scout, began a belated search for much-needed reinforcements.
What followed was frustration and finger-pointing, resulting in eventual signings, but whether these were all first-choice targets is open to debate.
Whether Paul Mitchell did enough to pursue several players during his tenure as sporting director remains debatable, but the criticism leveled at him by the Burnley owner over the James Trafford debacle would indicate that is not the case. The arrival and subsequent culpability of Aaron Ramsdale makes this even more annoying.
Whether Eddie Howe signed duds in Elanga and Ramsey is also questionable (even though many have already made that assumption).
The biggest miss of the summer, in my opinion, was Liverpool’s hijacking of the Hugo Ekitike deal. Ekitike would have fit so well into our blueprint, with a fast pace and associated goals.
The loss of Alexander Isak only increased the disappointment of losing the Frenchman.
This concludes the case for the defense
Which brings me to now, and the apparent growing call among some Newcastle United fans for change in our dugout.
So let’s get it out there…
I’m a big Eddie Howe fan.
I’m still a big Eddie Howe fan.
His galvanization of a club that was on its knees was admirable, he felt the detachment on the training ground and on the terraces and I said at the time… we needed someone like Eddie Howe, just as he had to prove himself at a big club.
I’m not going to spend time comparing him to previous managers, even though I can go back to the days when I was catching bags of peanuts in the Old West Stand paddock while Gordon Lee sat in the dugout.
I also don’t want Eddie Howe to escape any judgment because he’s a top guy, just as winning silverware shouldn’t justify him being spared constructive criticism.
However, the big problem with many fans, including me, is his reluctance to change formations. A tenacious midfielder, big Nick at number 10 just behind Wissa, who does not rely on a “play when I feel like it” Anthony Gordon.
I said at the height of the Isak mess in August that this could derail the coming season regardless of which players we bring in, the consequences and consequences unknown.
We all want the same thing.
We all want to hear the same click when it starts flowing again.
But above all, I want the current best English manager to stay and get more time, especially now that we have the structure above him to rebuild.
These are difficult times, frustrating times, but times unlike any we’ve seen before, except perhaps for some of the “new fans” among us.
Keep the faith.
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