Eddie Howe must come to terms with the fact that he is likely to be moved on to make way for Unai Emery in the Newcastle hot seat. This is according to Rio Ferdinand, speaking on his YouTube channel.
Ferdinand isn’t exactly a popular figure on Tyneside having once suggested that then Toon boss, Rafa Benitez should put his hand in his own pocket to fund player transfers, and his latest rant won’t have done much to repair that relationship.
As written in The Chronicle, Ferdinand said: “Eddie Howe deserves the credit. He was the perfect guy, he’s no trouble, he’s very calm and very measured in his approach. They needed that because you can get carried away when you have all of this money in the club.
Rio Ferdinand
“He was very calm, this could have blown up in their faces, but he’s stabilised them. He’ll get moved on and he’ll have a lot of clubs waiting. I reckon they go and get Emery.”
While there seems to be no mention of a timescale by Ferdinand, the context of those quotes suggest that Rio expects that Howe may struggle to guide Newcastle to a successful European campaign which could force their hand in bringing in Emery. The former Arsenal manager’s European credentials can’t be called into question having won the Europa League four times so far.
Immediate reaction from the Toon Army mimicked that of when Jose Mourinho was linked with usurping Eddie Howe – a resounding, “Nope!”.
Emery was, of course, the first choice to replace Steve Bruce back in November but he rejected the opportunity to return to the Premier League, leaving the door open for Eddie Howe who has taken the proverbial bull by the horns, guiding Newcastle from 20th to 11th in the league while going on some superb runs of results. Howe’s heroics this season have endeared him to the Newcastle support and many would like to give him the job long-term to see what he can achieve.