Howe sends message to Newcastle fans as he reflects on realising Wembley dream
A young Eddie Howe had an early warm up for Newcastle’s trip to Wembley - and even lifted a fake FA Cup!
The United boss was just six years old when his late mum, Anne, took him to that national stadium and helped fuel his desire for football glory. “It was every kid's dream, walking out with fake crowd noise, up those steps, lifting the fake FA Cup pretending you were a player!” said Howe. “It was the FA Cup, I can't make out it was the League Cup!
“I've never forgotten that day. Wembley for me was an amazing place, a place I was desperate to come back to in some capacity.”
On Sunday, he will live it for real if Newcastle can win their first domestic trophy since 1955, and single-parent mum Anne - who got up at 4am to work in a newsagent - will be in his thoughts.
“She took me for a tour and all my football opportunities are all down to her. I'll be thinking a lot about her and the part she played in my life. She was my driving force, a massive influence on me, and I'm doing everything now really because of her.”
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Howe gave a fascinating insight into how a “shy, introvert” - his words - player climbed to the top of coaching. A big part of the story is a playing career being ruined by injury aged just 24 at Portsmouth.
“I felt so lost and isolated because I could feel it was slipping away. There was a tackle involved, but it wasn't a bad tackle. I remember going to see a specialist and he said, 'You're going to have to retire', and I was totally knocked.
Eddie Howe has had a unique life journey to a Wembley final (Serena Taylor/Newcastle United via Getty Images)“I felt my world had ended, really, because I was so driven. I know I had limited ability, but I had an attitude that would get the most out of that ability. I'd worked my way from being released at Bournemouth at 16 to being signed for a Championship team for nearly half a million pounds.”
Howe tried to battle back. “I clung on for three more years, somehow, not playing very well but just giving everything.” When he was 29, Kevin Bond made him a player-coach - “mainly learning” - then he got a job at Bournemouth’s Academy.
Howe added: “I started to coach eight-year-olds, nine-year-olds, and it was only then I was like, 'Ooh, this is great, I can help other people, I can help kids'. I loved it.
“I got the coaching bug and it was a coaching bug that I never thought I'd get because I just felt I was a bit too shy to do it. If I transport myself from that person there to this moment here, I'd be like, 'Absolutely no chance that's possible'.
“Shy, introverted – I had a good football brain, but not necessarily a coaching outlook, so… it's an amazing turnaround. I got the desire to improve players and if players weren't really committed to that, I started to get frustrated and annoyed and then the whole range of emotions go through you. Playing and coaching - totally different skills.”
And improve players he definitely has at Newcastle. From relegation candidates a year ago to the top four this season and a trophy chance, boosted by eight new players and £250million spent.
Howe insists the Geordie cup drought is not a burden for his players, who retain a freshness at the start of this post Saudi takeover adventure. He said: “I'd done my research when I came here, so I was aware of how long it had been (without a cup).
“I was surprised initially when looking at it because of the size of the club. The history of the club is still very impressive when you talk about Kevin Keegan's team – I was watching Premier League Years last night and a few clips of that came on, and the football that they played was incredible, but that trophy wasn't there.
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“I think it's a great thing, from my perspective, that we have that as a motivating tool for the players.”
Will Newcastle win the Carabao Cup on Sunday? Have your say in the comments!
Eddie Howe is hoping to give Newcastle their first Wembley win since 1955 (Simon West/Action Plus/REX/Shutterstock)But Howe is a team player and not after personal glory. He has witnessed the Toon Army in full voice for a year and added: “To win would mean the world to me to do that, but it would not necessarily be for me.
“It would be more, genuinely, for the supporters, for everyone connected with the club to embrace that moment if we were able to do it.
“They've had a long wait for that moment and I know just from my very limited dealings with people around the city, the love they have for the football club. I'd love to return that love with a trophy.”
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