‘Stepping stone’: Simon Jordan reacts to 59-year-old possibly replacing Howe at Newcastle

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Simon Jordan thinks Eddie Howe will be used as a ‘stepping stone’ for Newcastle to go out and do better things in the future, as he told talkSPORT.

But he doesn’t think he will be ‘taken out’ this summer for the current Roma boss, Jose Mourinho.

With Premier League survival almost confirmed, those at St James’ Park can breathe a sigh of relief, as they will now plan to use their Saudi-led money to push up the ladder in English football this summer.

The ambition is clear to get right to the top, just like Chelsea and Manchester City did when they first got a wad of money strapped to their clubs.

Some will question, will those in the Newcastle boardroom be ruthless and get rid of Howe once he keeps them up? After all, they do have the money to push for a more proven name.

Whilst Jordan thinks Howe won’t be at the club for the long term, he can’t see anybody else, including Mourinho, 59, stepping into his shoes just yet.

“Eddie Howe’s rewards can’t be, for keeping Newcastle in the division,” said Jordan. “Of course, he was given a helping hand with £93 million of spending in January.

“But that reward surely, surely can’t be that someone gets to step in his shoes without having a fair crack at dissuading people like me that he’s going to take Newcastle to the next level.

“That he’s going to take Newcastle to where we allude to or allege they are going to get to because they are going to spend a lot of money. Now, that’s contradicted by some of the noise coming out of Newcastle about the fact they are only going to spend £60 million.

“I don’t think Eddie Howe will be the beneficiary of the ultimate unleashing of Newcastle’s potential. I think he will be the stepping stone. He will be the Mark Hughes and Roberto Manchini. He will get them to a certain position and his stock will go up.

“I don’t think he will be taken out in the summer, so I don’t take the argument about Mourinho or anybody else that Newcastle will care to run. They are going through a stage of evolvement.”

The January transfer window has, so far, proven that Howe can be trusted with the money their Saudi owners will give him to spend.

The only issue he will now face is other clubs know that the Magpies have all this cash, so teams, players and agents will be extra difficult.

Added with that, come next season, if they start off in a poor fashion, then it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Howe booted out.

Whilst Newcastle’s previous owner – Mike Ashley – happily stood by mediocre managers time and time again, if it starts going wrong for Howe, then he won’t last long.