When I’m wrong I don’t mind admitting it.
So here you go: when Newcastle United appointed Eddie Howe as manager I thought it was a mistake. Six months later my assessment has been revealed to be nothing short of ludicrous.
As you may recall I found the move rather underwhelming and not the sort of managerial direction you would expect the world’s richest football club to take. If memory serves, I even suggested it would probably end in the tears of relegation and then another managerial appointment this summer.
Wrong.
After their midweek win over Crystal Palace, a revitalised, confident and united Newcastle reached the 40-point mark and are now all but mathematically safe from the drop with half a dozen games to spare. But it isn’t just that Howe has saved a team that looked aimless and doomed, it’s the fact that their form in recent months has been closer to title-chasing than relegation-battling.
Since late December, when the new manager started to find his feet, Newcastle have averaged more than two points a game. Over the course of a full season that would be 76 points, which is normally enough for a top-four finish. Howe has been a remarkable success story for Newcastle and – given that he is a young, English manager – I couldn’t be happier admitting I called it very, very badly.
I couldn’t be happier admitting I called it very, very badly
I just hope Newcastle’s new owners appreciate what Howe has achieved in a relatively short period of time and appreciate they have an asset with huge potential on their hands. There is always the danger they may be thinking Eddie was a stop-gap, someone to save them from relegation and allow them time to find a bigger name manager.
That possibility worried me when the appointment was first made and, despite his success, it still worries me now. These mega-rich owners are nothing if not unpredictable and fickle…
Having said all that, of course, I was right about one thing regarding Newcastle – that their signing of Burnley’s Chris Wood was key to their survival. I said at the time it was a masterstroke of a move, and I think I got that spot on.
Wood may not have been prolific at St James’s Park, scoring just twice since he arrived. But look at the damage his departure has caused at Burnley, who are struggling to stay up and have even parted company with long-serving manager Sean Dyche.
When you look at the bigger picture it was an inspired signing and, if it turns out it was Howe’s cunning plan, that’s just one more feather in his cap.
Respect to Liverpool
Football rivalries don’t get much more intense than the one between Liverpool and Manchester United.
But last Tuesday night it was put aside in the most heart-warming of ways when Anfield united as one to pay tribute to Cristiano Ronaldo’s baby son who had passed away a few days before.
While the two teams battled it out on the pitch, supporters of both sides joined together in the seventh minute for a rousing round of applause and a bone-chilling rendition of You’ll Never Walk Alone.
Some things are more important than football and it’s nice to be reminded that the vast, vast majority of supporters are well aware of that.
Getting shirty
Looking to get your ‘hands’ on a slice of football history?
Well, if you’ve got a few million to spare you might want to bid for the shirt Diego Maradona was wearing when he scored the ‘Hand of God’ goal against England.
The top from the 1986 World Cup clash is currently being auctioned at Sotheby’s in London, and organisers expect it to raise something in the region of £4 million.
The current owner of this piece of sporting history is Steve Hodge, the former England player who swapped shirts with Maradona in the tunnel after that fateful quarter final. Either Hodge is an insanely intelligent chap who had astute financial foresight in the heat of that otherwise heart-breaking moment, or he is just incredibly lucky.
There have been some rumours circulating in the build-up to the auction that the shirt going under the hammer is not the actual one Diego was wearing. Rumours started by the Argentinian legend’s family, in fact. But I’m pretty sure Hodge wouldn’t go through with the sale if he wasn’t entirely, 100 per cent certain he had the legitimate article. And it’s not the sort of thing you could make a casual mistake about is it really: here’s my shirt, give me yours. Hardly the most complicated transaction you will ever come across.
I suspect these rumours were started by Maradona’s family because they are slightly aggrieved that the ex-England player has a £4,000,000 shirt to sell while they are not likely to get more than a £6 and a packet of jelly babies for their Hodge top…
The fifth element
Fascinating fact of the week. Well, at least it was to me anyway.
Veteran Sheffield United striker Billy Sharp only needs to score a goal in the fifth minute of a football match to have scored in every minute of the 90. The lower league goal machine has hit the back of the net in minutes 1-90 (apart from 5 obviously) as well as in 90+1, +2, +3, +4, +5 and +8.
With his career drawing to a close now – although he is still United’s top scorer this season despite being 36 – Billy is running out of time when it comes to ticking that only empty box. But if he does somehow manage to find a fifth-minute strike in the remaining games of his career, he will then be in rather illustrious company.
The only other players to have scored in every single minute of the 90?
Cristiano Ronaldo and Zlatan Ibrahimovic…
E-mail: James@Quizando.com
Twitter: @Maltablade