Newcastle United are reportedly eyeing a “world-class” manager admired by Jurgen Klopp to eventually replace Eddie Howe, as doubts creep in over his long-term future.
Howe under pressure at Newcastle
At the start of the season, the Magpies harboured hopes of another top-four finish in the Premier League and a strong run in the Champions League, but it has been an underwhelming campaign to date. Admittedly, Newcastle are still in the top-four hunt, but they have plenty of work to do, and they crashed out of the Champions League in the group stage in midweek.
While Howe has done a brilliant job as Magpies boss and has the overwhelming support of the fans, PIF are believed to be running out of patience with him, with a recent report claiming that there is now no guarantee that he will still be in charge at St James’ Park next season.
Much will depend on where Newcastle end up finishing in the league, or if they can get some domestic cup silverware in their trophy cabinet, but the report claims club chiefs are not happy at all with their exit from all European competitions and could ignore fan sentiment to make a change.
Mourinho backed to become next Newcastle manager
Following those reports in a chat with Caught Offside, Stan Collymore talked up the idea of Jose Mourinho being Howe’s replacement at Newcastle in the not-too-distant future.
“Jose Mourinho makes the most sense to take over as the next manager of Newcastle. Fans of the club love Eddie Howe but the more that I think about it it makes even more sense. The Portuguese coach had a great relationship with Sir Bobby Robson, he has always talked fondly about Newcastle and most importantly, he is represented by Jorge Mendes.
“The superagent has a lot of players in the Saudi Pro League and there is a situation there for the Saudis where they are getting two or three things for the price of one. They get a big-named manager for Newcastle who can lure quality players and has had success at the highest level; he spends around two years at Newcastle and then heads off to the Saudi league, a country where he recently said he will work someday; Mendes then banks on both ends so it turns into a scenario where Mourinho, the Saudis, Newcastle and Mendes all win.”
It is certainly easy to envisage Mourinho being Newcastle’s next manager, should Howe ultimately prove not to be the man to take the club forward into the future.
The Portuguese coach is the type of big-name figure who PIF will crave, enticing elite players to St James’ in the process, and he is a born winner who has proven himself for 20 years, winning three Premier League titles and two Champions League crowns, as well as being described as “world-class” by Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp.
Granted, some may feel that Mourinho has drifted past his best as a manager, with his more pragmatic style a thing of the past compared to the likes of Klopp and Pep Guardiola, but he is still someone who knows how to win, and his charismatic personality and connection to Sir Bobby could make him an instant hero at Newcastle.
