Eddie Howe has been Newcastle United manager for four years, but are his personal favourite managers ever?
So much has changed at Newcastle United in the last four years following PIF’s takeover in October 2021.
The Magpies have made themselves one of the Premier League’s best sides, are a regular Champions League presence and have brought their decades-long wait for a trophy to an end.
While hundreds of millions on transfers certainly helps, Eddie Howe is the man who has tied it all together.
PIF’s first major decision after the takeover was to sack Steve Bruce, the second was to recruit Howe as his replacement. It’s a move that has proven to be a masterstroke.
November 8 will mark the four-year anniversary of Howe taking the reins at St. James’ Park and he is making the case to be the club’s best-ever manager.
He became the first manager since Joe Harvey claimed the 1969 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup to win a trophy for Newcastle when they defeated Liverpool in the Carabao Cup final in 2025.
Doug Livingstone, all the way back in 1955, was the last manager to lift major domestic silverware with the club before him.
Howe has cemented his legacy as a Newcastle legend, but which managers does he consider to be on his ‘Mount Rushmore’?
- Who is Eddie Howe? The heroic manager who finally brought a trophy back to Newcastle United
Eddie Howe’s Mount Rushmore of managers includes one Newcastle United legend
During an interview with Sky Sports in March 2025, Howe named the managers he would consider the greatest of all time.
Club legend Sir Bobby Robson was among them, with Howe keen to stress he wasn’t simply saying that because of Robson’s history with Newcastle.
“Not for just the links to this club but for the jobs that he did and various clubs that he managed,” he said.
“I mean, Ipswich, Newcastle, England, Barcelona – he did it home and abroad, which I also have a lot of respect for.
“And the manner with which he managed as well, so has to be that.”
Pep Guardiola also unsurprisingly featured, alongside Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger.
When asked specifically who he’d consider to be the greatest manager of all time, Howe said: “If I had to stick my colours to the mast, I think it’d be very close between Pep and Sir Alex.
“I’ll go for Sir Alex just because of his longevity at one club, which I think is very, very difficult to do.”
Will Newcastle United lose Howe to England in 2026?
Much has been made about the fact that the Football Association overlooked Howe when appointing Thomas Tuchel as Gareth Southgate’s successor as England manager last year.
Clearly, however, that was good news for Newcastle. Yet, Tuchel is only contracted until after the 2026 World Cup and the job could soon be up for grabs again.
Howe is open to managing England one day and he will be a leading contender should Tuchel’s contract not be extended.
Especially as Howe became the first English manager to win a trophy in 17 years last season.
The last English manager to win silverware was Harry Redknapp’s FA Cup victory at Portsmouth in 2008, while the last time a coach from England won a league title was Howard Wilkinson at Leeds in 1992.
Receive a digest of our best Newcastle content each week direct to your mailbox
