Jamie Redknapp has heaped praise on Newcastle United boss Eddie Howe – but feels people turned their noses up about him heading to Arsenal.
Newcastle claimed a big result on Sunday. With time ticking away, Bruno Guimaraes bagged a last-gasp winner against Leicester City.
That goal sent St James’ Park wild, with that 2-1 win taking Newcastle up to 14th place in the Premier League table.
The top half is now in sight for Newcastle, who have enjoyed quite the turnaround.
January signings have of course been important. Kieran Trippier made a big impact before his injury whilst Dan Burn, Matt Targett, Bruno Guimaraes and Chris Wood continue to make a difference.
It’s easy to point to the January spending as the reason for Newcastle’s rise.
Yet manager Howe also needs to be given praise having clearly taken Newcastle to another level tactically.
Howe is getting more out of Newcastle players than predecessor Steve Bruce did and has even brought Fabian Schar into his side.
Howe has proven that he is the right man for Newcastle despite some questioning the move at the time.
After all, Howe’s last appearance in the Premier League came back in 2020 as his Bournemouth side were relegated.
Some felt Newcastle were signing up for the same fate by going for Howe.
That’s somewhat forgetting the job Howe did at Bournemouth, guiding them from League Two to the Premier League with a brief interlude at Burnley.
Not many managers can say they’ve done that.
Pundit Jamie Redknapp has now heaped praise on howe, praising his ‘incredible’ work at Bournemouth.
Redknapp, speaking to Sky Sports, added that he felt people were unfair on Howe, looking down their noses when he was linked with Arsenal.
English managers tend to get overlooked a little these days but Redknapp believes Howe is certainly good enough to take Newcastle to new heights.
“He did an incredible job at Bournemouth where he improved players,” said Redknapp. “The players that he brought in from the lower leagues, ‘they surely can’t play at the top level,’ well, he improved them to an extent where they had great careers, a lot of them. He did so many great things at that club.”
“We didn’t know what was going to be the next step for him and Newcastle came along at a brilliant time for him. He was linked with the Arsenal job for a while when he was at Bournemouth, he got linked with big clubs. People sort of looked down their nose. He’s a young English man, can he do it? Is he big enough to handle the expectation, the presence of being at a big club like Newcastle?”
“I think he’s more than capable of doing a great job with that club for many, many years. Don’t underestimate how good a manager he is. His attention to detail, I’ve watched him on the training field, he’s a brilliant manager, he really is. He could do a great job for that club going forward and I’m really pleased with how he’s doing now. I don’t think he’s got the credit he’s deserved over the years,” he added.
Howe plays the way Arsenal would fancy, but he may have needed an intermediate move between Bournemouth and the Gunners.
Newcastle may seem like that now, but they will have no intention of losing Howe any time soon after his work at St James’ Park.
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