Fan Zone: 'Eddie Howe didn't have a job because nobody thought he was the right man.'

Newcastle United boss Eddie Howe is yet to take charge of his first game as Magpies boss, yet already questions are being asked about his appointment by the recently taken-over Toon.

The Saudi-led club turned to Howe after they failed in their pursuit of Villarreal boss Unai Emery last month following the departure of Steve Bruce.

But the former Bournemouth boss was far from their first choice as they embark on what could be a long and gruelling fight to stay in the Premier League, despite the riches that are available to them.

“What worries me about Newcastle is that they’re a club that are on the brink of something,” Nicky from West Ham Fan TV claimed on this week’s episode of Fan Zone.

“That could be greatness or it could be relegation, but Eddie Howe wasn’t their first choice.

“There’s a reason that he didn’t have a job and that’s because nobody thought he was the right man.

“This club has got all the money in the world, they can go out and buy Mbappe, Ronaldo and Messi in one weekend and that is a fact now and they can afford to pay them.

“The thing is, do these owners actually know what they’re talking about when it comes to football?

“There’s one thing having money and spending it like it’s going out of fashion and there’s another when it comes to getting people around the club that know football and to me it seems like it’s the former.

🤔 “They would have been better off keeping Bruce.”

😬 “It’s a very dangerous game they’re playing.”

😳 “This is a fight, and they could be too far to even turn it around.”@nickyj82 from @westhamfantv has major doubts about #NUFC… ⚫️⚪️

📺: https://t.co/nCwpvKCokW pic.twitter.com/6NBJ6abw1p

— FansBet (@FansBet) November 18, 2021

“The name that came up before Howe was Unai Emery, and he didn’t do well at Arsenal, so you wouldn’t want him in a relegation fight.”

Howe, who has signed a contract until the summer of 2024, has not been in management since he left Bournemouth in August 2020 following relegation to the Championship.

His new club is expected to be busy in the January transfer window following their £300 million takeover last month by Saudi-led consortium PIF as they look to keep themselves up in the top-flight.

But Nicky believes they might not be afforded the luxury of time if they are to avoid becoming the richest club in the Championship next season regardless of their signing power.

“In my opinion, they would have been better off keeping Steve Bruce because the majority of those players simply aren’t good enough and many will be fearing that come January, they will be replaced or be rotting in the reserves.

“For me, it’s a very dangerous game they are playing, they should have looked for stability and said – let’s just stay up and we’ll go from there.

“They haven’t done that though, they’ve gone in completely the opposite direction, they’ve binned the manager and the players are going to be looking over their shoulder thinking – who’s coming in to replace me?

“Make no mistake about it, up to January, this is a fight and they could be too far gone to even turn it around whoever comes in.

“All these players they’re talking about bringing in, they could look at Newcastle and go, “I haven’t got a year to give in the Championship if they go down.”

“They could be in real trouble.”

Also discussed on this week’s episode of Fan Zone was whether Dean Smith can pull off the great escape with Norwich, Steven Gerrard’s appointment at Aston Villa and if David Moyes is the manager of the season so far?

You can watch the full episode here…