Eddie Howe reveals ‘admiration’ for Leicester City but insists they’re no ‘template’ for Newcastle United’s future journey

Newcastle United face Leicester City this afternoon, aiming to make it five home wins on the spin.
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However, to do that they must defeat a Leicester City team who they haven’t beaten at home since late-2014.

Since that day, when Gabriel Obertan’s strike gave Alan Pardew’s team their first win of the campaign, the Foxes have won the Premier League, FA Cup and reached their first ever European semi-final.

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Leicester are one of the most-feel good stories of recent times and many Newcastle supporters see them as a template on how the Magpies could progress under new owners, but does Eddie Howe share this sentiment?

Newcastle United head coach Eddie Howe (Photo by GEOFF CADDICK/AFP via Getty Images)Newcastle United head coach Eddie Howe (Photo by GEOFF CADDICK/AFP via Getty Images)
Newcastle United head coach Eddie Howe (Photo by GEOFF CADDICK/AFP via Getty Images)

“I don't know about a template, but certainly they're a team that I respect and I'm sure everyone else at Newcastle respects for how they've gone about their way of building a football club, trying to generate a successful and consistent team that's going to bring their club success.” United’s head coach said.

“I've got a lot of respect for Brendan and the job that he's done, so they're certainly a club for us to look at certain aspects of what they have done.”

A win for Newcastle against Leicester wouldn’t mathematically secure their Premier League status, however, it would be one huge step-forward in them achieving this feat.

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Newcastle will already be planning for the future and it is expected to be a busy summer window on Tyneside and Howe believes that there will be progress both on and off the field to come at Newcastle:

“It's about your decision-making ability to get the big calls right, and certainly from our side, we have to build the club in conjunction with the team.

“I don't think it's a case that you can just build the team and not include the infrastructure in that, so I think we have a lot of work to do.

“I think I've been very clear with that right from the start of this journey together, that the club needs investment in certain areas and only that, I think, will then help the team.”

A win for Newcastle today would see them leapfrog Steven Gerrard’s Aston Villa into 14th in the league table.