£5m Newcastle man admits Eddie Howe actually loved something he did which resulted in FA charge

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Newcastle man Isaac Hayden has been speaking on the Steven Sulley podcast, where he told an interesting story about Eddie Howe and the FA.

What’s the story?

Well, Newcastle fans may remember the £5m Newcastle man taking to Twitter after the Magpies suffered a 1-0 defeat to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge back in March.

Hayden implied that David Coote was playing for Chelsea that day by referring to the Blues as having 12 men, after the referee denied Newcastle a stonewall penalty, and also failed to send Kai Havertz off for an elbow on Dan Burn.

The Germany international then scored Chelsea’s late winner, rubbing salt in Newcastle’s wounds.

After seeing Hayden’s tweet, the FA (Football Association) slapped him with a £19,000 fine, as well as an official warning about his conduct.

Speaking to Sulley, the 27-year-old said: “In my head, I’m sitting there thinking, well they can’t fire me, because I’m saying 12 men, so 12 men could mean anything. The FA being the FA, the tweet got a lot of traction. I get to training, the manager pulls me into his office, and says the FA are going to do something, and he was like oh, by the way, love the tweet.”

Clearly, Howe enjoyed seeing Hayden’s spikier side, on a day where Coote really did leave Newcastle hard done by.

Hayden epitomises Newcastle spirit

We can certainly understand why Howe loved Hayden’s tweet.

The 45-year-old has created a very strong feeling of unity since replacing Steve Bruce at St James’ Park, and that was epitomised when Hayden took on the FA with his cheeky Twitter activity.

Hilariously, the tweet was never deleted, despite the FA’s charge.

Now, the Magpies find themselves third in the Premier League – coincidentally as a result of a 1-0 win over Chelsea last time out – and the togetherness behind the scenes is a huge factor behind their success.

Hayden is currently out on loan at Norwich, but his role in helping Newcastle regroup and reunite after a dire period under Bruce should not be forgotten.