Shay Given has been very disappointed with what he’s heard about Eddie Howe’s position at Newcastle United lately.
Newcastle’s form began to suffer in December thanks to an unexpected number of injuries and it’s never really picked up since with a defeat to Manchester City marking eight losses in 10 games.
Speaking on The Monday Night Club, Given defended Howe and claimed that it was ‘ridiculous’ that the media have been putting him under so much pressure recently.
Given is backing Howe to succeed with Newcastle
As many have previously stated, Howe and his team are becoming victims of their own success after qualifying for the Champions League last season, three years ahead of the owners’ plan.
With success comes higher expectations, but in this case the club aren’t putting any pressure on Howe to achieve the same feat as they appreciate the different circumstances which are posing huge problems.
Externally, however, the media have latched on to this bad run of form and have been asking questions about Howe’s future at the club and if they may look for a proven winner to take them to the next level.
That’s just not how Newcastle operate under this regime and a lot of faith has been placed on Howe to turn this around with Given defending the fact the head coach has had to deal with major injuries and now can’t afford to replace them in the January window.
On the show, Given said: “Eddie Howe’s supposedly come under pressure from some parts of the media which I find absolutely ridiculous to be honest.
“Last season they’ve overachieved, they’re ahead of where they thought they would be. I think they’re ahead of their five-year plan to challenge at the top of the league.
“Chris mentioned FFP and rightly so, it feels now that they are hamstrung, they’ve got the wealthiest owners in football and they can’t spend to compete with the likes of Man City.”
Howe will be given time to prove himself
Barring an absolute nightmare during the second half of the season which somehow sees Newcastle dragged into the very bottom half of the Premier League, it’s very likely that Howe will still be manager in the summer.
It’s not that this season is a complete write-off, but there are no big plans to spend in January as they look to keep all of their budget to splash out in the summer when the money from the Champions League and deals with Adidas comes in.
Despite the poor form, there’s certainly an sense of unity within the club as we saw at the end of the defeat to City as the team walked round the pitch to applause from the many fans who stayed back.
What Newcastle fans can get excited about is next season, but there’s still very much a chance that the team can qualify for Europe yet, it’s just getting slimmer and slimmer with every defeat.
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