Amanda Staveley has admitted she was told not to hire Eddie Howe as Newcastle United manager.
Shortly after the Newcastle United takeover, the new owners tasked themselves with replacing Steve Bruce.
Two candidates emerged, with Unai Emery and Eddie Howe the frontrunners. Initially, Newcastle went for Emery, only for the now Aston Villa boss to turn them down.
That resulted in the Magpies pivoting towards Howe, who became the Newcastle United manager. The rest is history, with Howe achieving Premier League survival, qualifying for the Champions League twice and that all important Carabao Cup trophy.
Goodness knows where Newcastle United would be had Amanda Staveley, Jamie Reuben and PIF opted not to appoint Howe.
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Yasir Al-Rumayyan immediately loved Eddie Howe
That was a possibility, as revealed by Staveley during an appearance on the High Performance podcast.
The former Newcastle United owner noted that agents tried to put her off appointing Howe, before admitting that Toon chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan was immediately blown away by the man who has gone on to transform the club.
“We desperately wanted Eddie to come and join us,” she said.
“We interviewed over 30 people. We looked at every player, and there were two outstanding candidates. One was Unai Emery and one was Eddie. Eddie was just unbelievable.
“He had a track record of getting up, but he had just been relegated with Bournemouth. There were a lot of people saying to me, because there’s a lot of agents thinking ‘I don’t want them to get Eddie Howe because I don’t get paid’. So they’d be saying ‘that Eddie Howe guy, if you take him you’ll be relegated. Amanda, I know you’re not very well versed in football, this is very new to you, we don’t want you to look stupid.
“Luckily, you’ve got to rely on your fantastic board, which we had from day one. They were so good.
“Yasir [Al-Rumayyan] has a very good sense and loved Eddie straight away. He didn’t really get to speak to Unai. But it was the perfect manager. He’s just extraordinary.”
How Eddie Howe felt about being Newcastle United’s second choice
Despite Staveley’s glowing words for Howe and Al-Rumayyan’s immediate impression, Newcastle did move for Emery first.
However, he rejected the Magpies’ advances and opted to stay at Villarreal.
That easily could have put Howe’s nose out, but he had no issues about Newcastle coming back to the table for him and making his return to management.
Appearing on the High Performance podcast in 2022, Howe had a very mature response to being Newcastle’s second choice behind Emery.
“Don’t worry about it,” he said.
“Can I control it? No. I can’t control if they choose someone else. So if I can’t control it, don’t waste energy on it.
“I understood if there was someone who they wanted ahead of me. Someone with Unai’s track record, managing in Europe, the job he’s done at other clubs. I’d probably make the same decision [as Newcastle].
“I had no issues with it at all. Then they came back and the rest is history.”
The rest is history. Newcastle United would not be the club they are today without Howe. Even with all the investment, it is Howe who has got the Magpies to the level they are at.
He has manoeuvred some incredibly difficult situations, with the most recent being the Alexander Isak debacle. That was made all the more challenging by the lack of a CEO and sporting director.
But Howe guided Newcastle through the storm, and PIF will be forever in his debt.
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