Newcastle's plan to cope without Eddie Howe (2025)

There are no guarantees that Eddie Howe will be back in the dugout at Newcastle United before the end of the season – and the club are steadfastly refusing to put a timeline on his possible return.

That messaging is deliberate. They do not want him to feel pressurised into coming back, with the feeling internally that he must have freedom to rest and recuperate after a bout of pneumonia that hospitalised him on Friday. If that means he is not back by May, so be it.

Anyone who knows Howe, though, will recognise how difficult this will be for the Newcastle boss to miss such a crucial period.

Howe is almost always among the first to arrive at the Magpies’ training ground, a workaholic who is addicted to the game and self-improvement. He is so committed that even after winning the Carabao Cup, he only left it 24 hours or so before scouring video of the game for ways in which Newcastle might improve in future matches.

It will be difficult for him to switch off but he should rest up easily. The black and white “band of brothers” that he has brought together at Newcastle should ensure that their Champions League bid isn’t derailed in his absence.

Insiders point out that everywhere you look in the dressing room, there are leaders that Howe signed and empowered to ensure standards are maintained. In the centre of defence, Dan Burn is the manager’s lieutenant, so trusted that he was given the floor before the 2023 Carabao Cup final at Wembley to read Theodore Roosevelt’s famous “Man in the Arena” speech to his teammates.

Captain Bruno Guimaraes has grown into the role that Howe handed him last summer, an infectious personality who wears his heart on his sleeve.

Howe fought hard to keep Kieran Trippier for moments like this, when his experience of the biggest games in European football means he has the instant respect of those around him. They are effectively the torch-bearers of the hard work and intensity philosophy that is central to Howe’s management.

Elsewhere there are the quieter voices who set standards through performances. Sandro Tonali, Fabian Schar and Tino Livramento fall into that category.

“They will have to stand up and be counted, whether the manager is here or not,” Jason Tindall, Howe’s No 2 and the man who has been told to step in indefinitely, said on Tuesday.

The transition to Tindall for the next few games will be made easier by him being one of the more high-profile assistant managers in the Premier League, for whom media work comes pretty easily. A cult hero among Newcastle fans, his reputation was burnished by overseeing a fine 4-1 win over Manchester United at the weekend.

Tindall had a season-long stint as a manager at Bournemouth and while he doesn’t harbour a burning desire to return to the frontline, the duties seem to come pretty easily to him. He is a big voice in the dressing room and if Howe’s personality is a big miss, Tindall’s tactical brain should not be underestimated.

It was Tindall who worked on the set-pieces that helped Newcastle win their first trophy in 70 years last month, spotting a weakness in the positioning of Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate that encouraged them that Burn would have success running from deep from corners and free-kicks.

Alongside Graeme Jones, a highly-rated assistant manager who was part of Gareth Southgate’s backroom staff during Euro 2020, and Howe’s long-time coaches Simon Weatherstone and Stephen Purches, Tindall will get the next two games at least. Further success would say a lot about the house that Howe has built at St James’ Park.