On the same day as the Football Association revealed their criteria for the new England head coach – the favourite for the role refused to rule himself out of contention.
Gareth Southgate confirmed his departure as England manager earlier this week, and as HITC revealed earlier in the summer, the FA had already being doing their due diligence on possible replacements.
Indeed as the FA revealed their job specifications for the senior men’s head coach role, they confirmed that their ‘succession planning process has already identified a number of candidates’.
HITC has previously confirmed that amongst the leading candidates are Newcastle’s Eddie Howe, former Chelsea boss Graham Potter and current England Under-21 coach Lee Carsley.
Eddie Howe would NOT turn down England approach
We confirmed Howe’s is ‘open’ to the England job and now sources have further backed this up by telling us that if offered the Three Lions role, he would NOT turn it down.
Howe is currently in Germany at Newcastle’s pre-season training camp and he spoke at a press briefing which centred around his own future and he stated that he is happy to stay, but insisted that he has to eel like he has the right ‘support’ to do his job.
“This is all about Newcastle, it’s not about England. As long as I am happy, feel supported, feel free to work in the way that I want to work, I have not thought of anything else other than Newcastle,” he explained.
“As long as I’m happy in the position that I’m in, as long as I feel supported by the football club and free to work in the way that I want to work, yes. For me, that’s always been my key driver – my happiness and my ability to do my job.
“I absolutely want to stay but it has to be right for me and the football club. There’s absolutely no point in me saying I’m happy staying at Newcastle if the dynamic isn’t right. I’m certainly not serving Newcastle well if I do that.”
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Howe admits unrest as allies leave and new sporting director arrives
Howe has seen his closest board confidants Amanda Staveley and Mehrdad Ghodoussi leave the club, which he admits has caused unrest.
“There has been a lot of change at the football club this summer, it has been a very difficult summer for everyone connected with the club. With change comes always a new feeling,” he admitted.
“You can point to PSR, Amanda (Staveley) and Mehrdad (Ghodoussi) leaving, a change in sporting director which, of course, influences me. These are all big changes.
“We’re in the flux of change, it’s just happened. I can’t say with a definitive answer where that will lead. I hope it leads to everything that I’ve just said. That could easily be the case, but it needs to be that way for Newcastle, not so much for me. The club is always the most important thing.”
Amongst the changes a new sporting director has arrived in the shape of Paul Mitchell and HITC is told that he has made clear he has some different targets in mind to what Howe and his current staff, including his nephew Andy who is assistant recruitment chief, had lined up.
“I’ve absolutely no issues with anyone personally, but of course we move together, we have to be able to work together in key relationships for the club,” he added when asked about Mitchell.
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