Having served as our manager for over four years, it’s fair to say that Eddie Howe is one of the Crown Jewels of the club and the entire P...
Having served as our manager for over four years, it’s fair to say that Eddie Howe is one of the Crown Jewels of the club and the entire PIF project.
Surviving a seemingly-impossible relegation battle, securing two Champions League campaigns, and of course winning the 2025 Carabao Cup, has earned Howe a lot of credit, and it’s no wonder that the new CEO David Hopkinson and the club higher-ups are so keen to make the gaffer the focal point of everything about the club.
This included bringing in a sporting director whom Howe actually got along with: former Nottingham Forest man Ross Wilson.
And the signs are already on display that this could be the start of a fantastic partnership between the manager and sporting director, as Wilson himself has expressed his excitement to begin working with a close friend in Howe.
Wilson on Howe and 2025/26 ambitions
In a new interview with The Athletic, Ross Wilson has lavished praise on Howe for his managerial accomplishments so far, and hopes the pair can forge a strong relationship for years to come now he’s made the move from the City Ground to St James’ Park.
Where there was an almost-instant tension between Howe and Wilson’s predecessor Paul Mitchell, Wilson seems almost relieved that we are able to call Howe our manager.
The former Forest chief was firstly asked about lingering England’s interest and suggestions Man City and Liverpool could one day move for Howe, insisting it’s a good sign that others are huge admirers of our “outstanding” manager:
“We have got an outstanding manager here. From past experience, I’d certainly rather have one that other people might like, rather than one that nobody likes.”
It’s no secret that the FA very recently eyed up Howe for the England job before Thomas Tuchel’s appointment, and you would fancy the boss to be near the top of many club’s wish list for their next manager.
Recognising how important Howe is to the current Newcastle project, Wilson also feels that Howe needs to be shown some patience from onlookers as he has the difficult task of competing across three (soon to be four) competitions with an injury-afflicted squad, also signalling that qualifying for Europe again is another key target heading into 2026:
“You’d rather have more points than we’ve got right now. But the injury situation has been hampering us and we’ve had new players to integrate into the team.
“We’ve got an outstanding manager and an outstanding group of players and we feel that the direction is forward-facing now. Is the ambition Europe? Absolutely, yes. Why would it not be?”
When he was appointed, new CEO David Hopkinson strongly pushed for complete synergy and unity in terms of the club’s goals: if you were part of Newcastle in any way, then you were either backing the club and its plans to move forward, or against them.
And now we have a manager, CEO and sporting director all on the same page for the first time in years, things may really start to accelerate and progress both on and off the pitch.
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