Simon Jordan believes that someone at Newcastle United is currently being treated very unfairly by the media.
Newcastle fell to another defeat on Monday night as Chelsea beat them in relatively comfortable fashion, sparking questions about Howe’s suitability for his role as manager.
Speaking on talkSPORT, Jordan admitted that he didn’t think Howe is the man to take Newcastle to the top, but also that he comes under ‘unkind’ scrutiny when others in the Premier League haven’t.
Howe is under a lot of pressure at Newcastle
Perhaps it’s not Newcastle’s board who are putting pressure on Howe to succeed but rather the media who are trying to create a headline about his future at the club.
This season has not been anywhere near as good as the previous campaign when they qualified for the Champions League, but few actually expected them to match that achievement this year.
When speaking on Howe, Jordan compared it to the treatment Arteta was given at Arsenal when he finished eighth two years in a row despite having more money to spend and a more well established club in the league.
The Gunners were also going through a change in ownership model and placed their faith in Arteta despite him not getting Champions League football in his first three seasons, so the former Crystal Palace owner thinks Howe may be getting a tough ride at Newcastle.
On Howe, Jordan said: “Where have expectation levels risen? Have they risen amongst the fans? I know we’ve had Amanda Staveley say Newcastle are going to win this, that and the other, well she says a lot of things and we’ll see how that pans out.
“The point is that we saw sections of the media scrutinising Eddie Howe on the back of a significant drop of form after the Champions League run and we will see what the ownership does at the end of the season.
“I wouldn’t be surprised that Eddie Howe won’t get them to the promised land. So, actually he’s getting more scrutiny from people like me because I’m saying he doesn’t even get a passage of time to build towards that.
“Eventually Eddie Howe is going to be replaced, that’s an unkind way to look at it.”
“When you’re comparing Eddie Howe to what other clubs have done, Arteta has been at Arsenal for four years and he’s won nothing apart from an FA Cup in his first season.
“He’s been given significantly more money, came from a position of a more establish football club with a better base than the one Howe has had, so I think there’s an inherent unfairness in scrutiny.”
Howe needs time to prove himself
Howe may not actually be the man to take Newcastle forwards and win them trophies and that’s absolutely fine, but he at least deserves the chance to prove himself with a fully fit squad.
The 46-year-old has spent the last two-and-a-half years trying to build this team and instil his philosophy and way of playing football in them, but there’s been so many obstacles that have prevented that.
Once he gets his players back fit and has another pre-season under his belt, then he can be fairly scrutinised if things still aren’t going his way, but until then it’s a very difficult time to judge him.
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