‘I worry for him’ - Simon Jordan makes shock Eddie Howe claim amid Newcastle United success

Newcastle United currently top Group F of the Champions League after their stunning win over the French champions. It was a brilliant night on Tyneside - one that saw Eddie Howe get his tactics spot-on to exploit weaknesses in their opposition.

However, Simon Jordan doesn’t believe that Howe, who has been nominated for Premier League Manager of the Month, will be the man to bring silverware to Tyneside. Instead, Jordan has compared Howe’s current role to Mark Hughes’ time at Manchester City, believing Howe won’t get the opportunity to see Newcastle’s evolution through to the end.

Speaking on TalkSport, Jordan said: “I feel that Eddie will do a job that gets you to a point where you’re getting close to it. We’re getting to Mauricio Pochettino territory of getting a side that gets you there, but can’t quite win.

“I worry for him because I think there’s an evolution when a club changes direction and pivots on a sixpence. Eddie Howe could not have got his timing better because they could have put Genghis Khan in charge of Newcastle post-Mike Ashley and the Newcastle fans would have rallied around. 

“This fervent that they’ve got, the feeling, energy and vitality of Newcastle, you’re coming in at a perfect time if you can get a group of players playing better and £300m to supplement the playing squad. I think he feels a little bit, and it may be unkind, it feels a little bit like the Mark Hughes transition from when Sheikh Mansour takes over.

“Hughes starts to buy big players and starts to build a Manchester City side that are starting to build their engines before [Roberto] Mancini takes it from here and goes ‘thank you’ and Manchester City win the league. That’s what I think might happen. I hope I’m wrong and I hope he gets the rewards of the fact that he will be the building block.

“There is going to be this conversation eventually of what does it take for Newcastle to win the Premier League? What does it take for Newcastle to win the FA Cup?

“I just think there’s a journey you go through when you’re evolving in football clubs when they go through the transition and very rarely there is somebody that gets to take you all the way along. 

“I think he will have some significant achievements along the way but if the aim is for Newcastle to win significant things, I don’t know if it will be Eddie Howe that gets the benefit of that achievement but what he will be is a remarkable pathway for someone else to build upon.”

Howe will take his Newcastle United side to the London Stadium to face West Ham on Sunday, aiming for a fourth consecutive Premier League victory - one that would move them above their opponents on the league table heading into the international break. Newcastle defeated the Hammers 5-1 in this fixture last season courtesy of braces from Callum Wilson and Joelinton and an audacious lob by Alexander Isak.