Newcastle United

All I know are the normal rumours that swirl around every football club. You’ll know that from attending more than I do at Rovers. In 2020 when they went down I never felt that until the lockdown stopped the season and halted the PL for two months that AFCB would be in trouble. They were playing ok and there was a gap between them and the bottom 3. But in the first match when it all re-started AFCB were very poor. And they never recovered and the last day win at Everton was too late. We could all see that after 5 years of PL football EH was shattered and worn out . I think he cared too much about AFCB and he oversaw every aspect of a small PL club. He was almost too important and it took its toll. 

After what EH did for all those players he took from League 1 to the PL he was let down by one or two who switched off in those last months. Ryan Fraser who was coming to the end of his contract wouldn’t sign a new monthly contract like so many players did in 2020 to cover the extended season. So he never helped the club avoid relegation and the rumours were EH was really angry about it. Without Fraser the team was less effective though he hadn’t had a great season, but EH felt very let down. He went on a free to Newcastle after relegation. Fraser used the excuse I may get injured and be left without a club!

Lots of clubs change managers using ‘mutual agreement’ as a reason. In EH/ AFCB I think it was a genuine ‘mutual agreement’ perhaps more from EH than the club imo. That AFCB appointed Tindall, Eddie’s best mate tells me AFCB were happy with the direction and way they had done things? EH was just knackered, worn out, 10 hard years, the strain really showed after the re-start. The 5 PL years were hard and very public but he enjoyed a good reputation and had earned respect. The early years, avoiding going out of the league, worrying about where the next £ was coming from were hard as well, although now largely forgotten. He had done all he could at Bournemouth, he could do no more without trying to repeat what he’d already done. We think Arsenal looked at him when Wenger went and Emery came in but nothing happened. In his own quiet way he is ambitious and knew he had to go. And he had the patience to sit out last season, turn down a few offers and get his own rejections. It was heavily rumoured that he wanted the Palace job but they chose Viera. So he spent the year observing training at other clubs and he used it as a sabbatical, a learning experience. He turned down Celtic because the conditions weren’t exactly as he wanted. He is a details man and wants everything the way he wants it and is a bit of a perfectionist. I can imagine he saw Newcastle as a real opportunity, a club hitting well below their weight esp with the money now available. 

An an interesting feature about EH is that so many players who joined AFCB really did improve as players. And when they went they always spoke highly about him and his training methods. He fell out with very few players, Fraser and Matt Ritchie, both strangely at Newcastle now. But others loved him obviously, they owed him a lot. He never gets too high when his teams win and never too low when they lose. When you look at Man U I can’t think of any players who’ve been improved by any of the managers recently (perhaps Bruno Fernandez). They’ve all got worse which is an awful thing to say about such a huge club. That never happens with EH.

Sorry, a long way to say it was ‘mutual agreement’, the guy was just worn out. Now, he’s refreshed his batteries.

UTG!