Eddie Howe sack coming as Newcastle boss damns £120m pair as ‘stick to beat me with’ | OneFootball

After an international break which saw CEO David Hopkinson raise doubts over his future, Eddie Howe insisted “commitment has never wavered from my side”. That’s a feeling increasingly at odds with a fanbase fearing their club is going backwards under his stewardship.

Howe has been the best thing about Newcastle for the last four years, saving them from relegation before taking them back into the Champions League and leading them to their first trophy in 70 years.

He’s arguably been a victim of his own success, bloodying the noses of the big boys with a squad with the eighth-highest wage bill in the division.

But a club which has previously shown unequivocal support for a man fully deserving of that backing now refusing to take a stance on his future feels significant and has resulted in a widely held belief that he had seven games to save his job before a trip to Crystal Palace which suggested the last six might make little difference to the board’s decision.

They couldn’t have had a more gentle proposition than a clash with a Palace side safe from relegation playing this game between their Conference League quarter-final legs against Fiorentina, and they f***ed it.

Howe put his neck on the line with a selection decision to highlight what he admits was his poor management in the summer after accepting his share of the blame for the “one or two” signings being “used to beat me with”.

“When we recruit a player, what’s fundamentally important is that me and the coaching team like that player and can see a way that we can get the very best out of him in our team. Signing a player that doesn’t fit that criteria, I think, is unhealthy,” Howe said ahead of the Palace clash.

“And the club have been really good in helping me sort of mould the squad as I want to. So I think I always say judge me by every signing that we’ve made since I’ve been here, not just by one or two that people want to sort of beat me with a stick with.

“Across the board, I think we’ve recruited really well. Of course, there will be question marks on certain players. I understand that comes with the territory. But I’m really proud of our recruitment.

“There’s a lot of work that’s gone into it. But all the players that we’ve signed, whether it’s abroad or domestic based, have been chased and endorsed by myself.”

Recruitment that had indeed been excellent before last summer has really cost them this season.

And if there was any doubt which “one or two” players Howe was referring to, his team sheet all but confirmed it as William Osula started just his second Premier League game of the season ahead of £65m Nick Woltemade and £55m Yoane Wissa.

Social media was awash with criticism and suggestions Howe had signed his death warrant through the selection, and although Osula repaid the faith by poking in the opening goal at Selhurst Park and showing the benefit of his dynamism for much of the game, flowers due to Howe for the call were shredded by the time the final whistle came.

Jean-Philippe Mateta scored a late brace to move a Palace team which hasn’t given a whole lot of sh*ts about the Premier League for a fair while now and may never have cared less about it than when Newcastle arrived on Sunday above them in the table.

The only teams below Howe’s side in the table are in a relegation battle.

At a club famously denied the willy-nilly spending their financial muscle allows through Premier League regulations, Howe being unable to get enough out of £120m of striking talent that he “chased and endorsed” to make them worthwhile inclusions in his starting XI is a damning indictment of his decision-making and one perfectly valid stick of many to beat him with.

Woltemade and Wissa being introduced in the 84th and 95th minutes respectively offers further evidence of the poor regard they’re held in by the manager who pushed for their signings.

With big players seeking exits and those bought to replace them as St James’ Park heroes failing spectacularly to meet the mark in a dramatic comedown of a season from the high of 2024/25 it’s time to give Howe his dues, build him a statue and send him packing.