Eddie Howe is favourite to be the next England manager. That might not be news Newcastle fans want to hear, but it really could all turn out for the best.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!There are very few things that are more of a hack move these days than a Simpsons reference.
One of the only things that springs to mind is knowingly acknowledging that before still doing it anyway. It’s also one of the most self-indulgent things you can do. Especially if you put all that sh*t right there at the start of the piece when you’re supposed to be drawing the reader in before they get bored and go back to doomscrolling.
But the fact is that sometimes only the Simpsons reference will do. It may have been unwatchably bad for far longer than it was unmissably great, but there were still a lot of those great years and times when the right word or phrase for any situation was done so perfectly that nothing else ever can or will suffice.
One such Simpsons-ism that applies an awful lot to football is when Lisa tells Homer that the Chinese have the same word for crisis and opportunity, and Homer, reinvigorated, says: “Yes! Crisitunity!”
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I think about that scene a lot. To the extent that it probably has changed the wiring of my brain. To the extent that maybe I now see crisitunity where actually none exists. It also still makes me laugh any time I think of that moment.
But that said, it really does seem like a word and an idea that applies to a lot of things in football a lot of the time.
The crisis of having no fit left-backs, for instance, can be the opportunity to get yet another right-back on the pitch, if you’re that way inclined.
The crisis of pesky rules stopping you buying all the players you want can be the opportunity for homegrown ones to get their chance, unless you’ve already sold them all for Pure Profit because of those aforementioned rules.
And the crisis of losing your manager can be the opportunity of getting a better one.
This is where – far too late into a 1000-word piece about them, let’s be honest – Newcastle come in.
Now it’s obviously far from certain Eddie Howe will be the next England manager, let’s start there. But it’s also very possible. He’s the current favourite and his claims are strong. It’s not going to be an easy opportunity for him to turn down if it comes to it.
But played right this represents far more of a crisitunity than a crisis for Newcastle. Howe is a very good manager indeed. But we still can’t quite shake the nagging suspicion that while he was an excellent appointment at the time they appointed him and remains a perfectly decent manager for where they’ve so far got to on their journey, he isn’t going to be the man to complete the entire Newcastle masterplan.
It’s one that ends with being the best team in at least the country and really beyond. It’s going to need a change at some point, and it’s pretty unlikely it’s ever going to be an easy decision.
Newcastle might just have found the perfect way out. The takeover and the work done by Howe and his team have combined – you can argue among yourselves about the ratios involved here – to make the Newcastle job a far more appealing one than it was before he took over.
Newcastle can shop in a different market now, and there are plenty of eye-catching managers currently available. It might not be the worst time to be looking for a new one.
And Newcastle also have a far easier PR war to win here than they would by sacking Howe and replacing him, which when and if they do it is always going to look harsh and brutal even if it’s necessary.
The club are currently making all the obvious and correct noises about wanting to keep Howe and having no expectation that he will leave, but if he does leave then this is the way you want it to go.
If handled graciously, you can look like you’re acting in the best interests of English football at large by not standing in the way of your manager taking the national job. It’s a bit of a scam, but far less so than, for instance, pretending you’re acting in the wider interests of the game at large by crying and moaning about a decision that went against you.
You also don’t run the risk of inadvertently strengthening a rival. Chelsea narrowly dodged that bullet by sacking Mauricio Pochettino just when it appeared Manchester United were going to be looking for a new manager before they got inexplicably distracted by Gareth Southgate and decided in the end not to actually bother at all.
Pochettino would now certainly be one of the names right near the top of any Newcastle shortlist should such a thing become necessary.
But the main point here is that a manager who leaves you – whether by your choice or theirs – and ends up in international football has removed that possibility. They now exist and operate in an entirely different world. Club football and international football are barely the same sport; club football management and international football management absolutely are not the same job.
Nothing Howe might achieve with England could blow back on Newcastle. Whether he is a huge success, massive flop or anything in between with England would really give absolutely no clue whatsoever as to what he may or may not have achieved had he stayed where he was.
Meanwhile Newcastle are free to target a new manager from a higher tier than those available to them when Howe got the job.
It could go horribly wrong, of course, but it nearly went wrong last season even with Howe. There are never any guarantees in this game.
But Howe leaving for England and Newcastle being free to shop for a managerial upgrade without looking like the bad guys (in this specific instance at least) could be a win-win. Or at the very least a crisitunity.
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