Eddie Howe has transformed Newcastle United so much that even players who barely get a whiff of first-team football don’t want to leave.
Kieran Trippier wore the captain’s armband in the majority of games for Newcastle last season, however he wasn’t officially the club captain. That honour went to Jamaal Lascelles who was captain at the club when Eddie Howe took charge.
Not wanting to shake things up when he arrived in November 2021, Howe let Lascelles retain the Newcastle captaincy for the remainder of the season despite bringing in Kieran Trippier in the January window and handing the armband to him when Lascelles wasn’t in the team.
Lascelles is a massive influence behind the scenes at Newcastle
Eddie Howe has been so impressed with Lascelles’ leadership and influence behind the scenes at Newcastle that, despite him barely featuring on the pitch, he still holds the title of club captain. That seems to be set to continue into the upcoming season going off what was said in the media briefing which took place in the USA ahead of Newcastle’s game against Aston Villa tonight.
Speaking to the media (via NUFC TV), Lascelles said: “Of course I want to stay. I love every minute of being at Newcastle, since I’ve been here it’s been fantastic and being the captain is such a huge honour for me. I’m not that much of a selfish person, I want the team to do well, I want the fans to experience the team doing well and if it means missing a few games I’ll take it on the chin because it’s a team game.
“I’ll always give my all whatever position I’m in, I play for the badge and I’ll always give my all on and off the pitch.”
The way Lascelles speaks, much like Kieran Trippier, it oozes class and shows why he’s so valued by Eddie Howe at Newcastle.
Newcastle have an impressive ‘Leadership Group’
Newcastle have the ‘Leadership Group’ which consists of Lascelles and Trippier backed up by Matt Ritchie, Dan Burn and Callum Wilson who together play a sort of collective captain role. It’s a great way of dividing the responsibility of leading the side and likely helps to bond the team together.
As for Lascelles, it seems he’s clearly aware that he’s unlikely to feature regularly for Newcastle but he is completely fine with that and is happy to contribute to the cause in any way he can. Despite being one of the players earmarked as likely to be moved on, it looks, for now at least, that the £40,000-a-week (Spotrac) star is set to stay.
It definitely feels like Howe is keen to keep that leadership group together with Matt Ritchie being offered a contract extension too.
Receive a digest of our best Newcastle content each week direct to your mailbox
