Last night the Premier League announced their Manager Of The Season as Liverpool’s Jurgen Klopp, causing mild outrage on Tyneside.
Newcastle fans were convinced there was no other worthy winner of the award than Eddie Howe who performed miracles since taking over from Steve Bruce, taking win-less Newcastle from the depths of despair to a “Top of the bottom” finish and reuniting the club with the fanbase in the process.
However, taking off the black and white specs, it was always likely that Howe was going to miss out. Klopp guided Liverpool to two cup wins and pushed Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City for the title right until the last game, narrowly missing out after a breathtaking comeback by the Cityzens. And that’s not mentioning the upcoming Champions League final, which isn’t part of the Manager Of The Season discussion, but will have factored into the judges’ thinking.
He’s OUR Manager of the Season
For Eddie Howe to even be in the conversation against the likes of Pep and Klopp is a huge achievement in itself and shouldn’t be overlooked, especially given that Howe had literally half as much time to make an impression on the Premier League – something that could have gone against him in the judging. There was, of course, a public vote which, a few days before the announcement, Howe was clearly winning, but unfortunately, the public vote only counts for 5% of the overall reckoning – which begs the question: Why bother?
So, we can’t celebrate having the official Manager of the Season, but you try telling any Newcastle fan that Howe wasn’t robbed. He may not have won the award, but he has won the hearts of the Toon Army, and who knows? Next season, that award could be coming to St James’ Park.