Eddie Howe has no intention of following in the footsteps of Kevin Keegan and walking out of St James’ Park in the wake of a disappointing summer transfer window.
Keegan brought an abrupt end to his second spell in charge on Tyneside in September 2008 after the club, then under the ownership of Mike Ashley, brought in Spain Under-21 international Xisco and loan signing Ignacio Gonzalez against his wishes.
Sixteen years on, Howe had hoped to reinforce his squad with a central defender and a winger, having allowed promising youngsters Elliot Anderson and Yankuba Minteh to leave in order to comply with profitability and sustainability rules.
The Magpies made a concerted effort to land Crystal Palace’s England international centre-back Marc Guehi before having to admit defeat while they also tabled an offer for Nottingham Forest wideman Anthony Elanga without success.
However, asked if he could provide assurances he would not follow Keegan’s example ahead of Sunday’s Premier League clash with Tottenham, Howe said: “It’s difficult to ever – and this isn’t a loaded answer, by the way – give any reassurance on anything in football, but I absolutely love being Newcastle manager, I’m very, very proud to do it.
“No part of me is thinking anything other than trying to beat Tottenham and looking, hopefully, to a long reign here.”
Newcastle have invested heavily – to the tune of more than £400million – since its Saudi-backed owners took charge in October 2021, but that expenditure has left the club walking a PSR tightrope.
Since they qualified for the Champions League at the end of the 2022-23 season, the Magpies have made only one marquee signing, a £55million swoop for Italy midfielder Sandro Tonali, and have otherwise largely had to keep their powder dry.
Howe did not want to lose either Anderson, who joined Forest for £35million or Minteh, picked up by Brighton for a similar fee, but at least managed to hang on to big names Bruno Guimaraes, Alexander Isak and Anthony Gordon.
Asked if there had been any “over my dead body” moments during a scramble to make the numbers add up, Howe said: “I don’t think I can act like that because it’s not about my want. In times like that, especially in June, it was about what the club needs.
“We could be sitting here with a huge points deduction and I’m sure everyone would say, ‘Why didn’t they sell players?’.
“You’ve got to choose which way you want to go with it and for us, we couldn’t go down that route, so selling players was a necessity and it was very difficult to do.”
