HITC understands that Newcastle United are aware that the Football Association deem Eddie Howe as the ideal candidate to succeed Gareth Southgate.
The FA confirmed on Tuesday that Southgate would be leaving his role as England boss, following the conclusion of the European Championships – which saw The Three Lions lost 2-1 to Spain in the final.
HITC revealed on Monday that sources have confirmed to us that Southgate was ready to walkaway from the job he has been in for eight years and now that is official.
Eddie Howe ‘open’ to succeeding Gareth Southgate
And we can now reveal that Newcastle boss Eddie Howe is emerging as one of the top candidates to succeed Southgate as the FA have been told the former Bournemouth chief is ‘open’ to the idea of taking charge of England.
Howe is hugely admired across the Premier League for the job he has done at Newcastle, guiding them from relegation candidates to the Champions League.
Last season, though, saw Newcastle miss out on Europe and HITC is told that he has been informed by the club’s top brass this summer that ‘major’ improvements are required this season.
Howe is known to have settled well in the North East, but the England job would in theory allow him and his family to be once again be based in his native South West.
The FA were waiting on Southgate’s final decision but, as HITC has previously confirmed, Wembley’s top brass have been doing their due diligence on prospective options to come in as England boss as they did not want to be caught off-guard or unprepared.
Football Association assessing options
As part of that process, the FA have been working hard on assessing the options and that has seen Howe emerge as the leading option.
HITC revealed earlier this summer that Howe was at the top of their list, but he is not he only name under consideration as former Chelsea boss Graham Potter and current Under-21 boss Lee Carsley are also highly regarded by the FA.
HITC is told that the representatives of Thomas Tuchel and Mauricio Pochettino have pushed their credentials with FA bosses, but it is believed ideally they will go with a British-born candidate although nothing is being discounted at this stage.
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