Eddie Howe ready to snub any England approach to replace Gareth Southgate

Eddie Howe has said he will reject any approach from England to replace Gareth Southgate as long as he remains happy at Newcastle.

In a fascinating interview from the club’s pre-season training camp at Adidas’s headquarters in Germany, Howe talked openly about a difficult and draining summer of change.

And there was a clear warning to the club’s hierarchy that he needs to be reassured he still retains as much influence behind the scenes following the appointment of new sporting director Paul Mitchell.

But the 46-year-old repeatedly reaffirmed his commitment to Newcastle, even insisting he would rather win a trophy for them than manage the national team.

Asked about being installed as one of the favourites to take charge of the national team, Howe said: “So, for me, being very, very proud to be Newcastle manager, this is all about Newcastle. It’s not about England.

“So, 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.

“I absolutely love the club. I love the supporters. I love where I am at in my career. There is no better place for me to be. That is how I feel.

“The England conversation is someone else’s, not mine. Mine is Newcastle. To speak about something else while manager of Newcastle is wrong. I don’t think I have to say the answer again [about whether I want the England job]. The answer is clear.”

Howe, though, is adjusting to a new management structure at St James’ Park, which has seen his key ally Amanda Staveley leave and Mitchell arrive with a remit that includes control of recruitment. As a result, he made it obvious he wants to see how this transfer window plays out before he knows whether he remains as happy in his job.

“There has been a lot of change at the football club this summer,” he explained. “It has been a very difficult summer for everyone connected with the club. With change comes always a new feeling.

“You can point to PSR, Amanda and Mehrdad [Ghodoussi], a change in sporting director which, of course, influences me. These are all big changes. That is why I’ve made the points that I have because this has to work for Newcastle.

“It’s about making sure Newcastle United is as strong as it can be for the next season and beyond. We’ve all got to come together and make sure we are the force that we want to be. I have been really happy for two and a half years.

“I have loved every second of the relationships that I’ve had and the way I’ve been able to work. I think that has brought success.

“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.”

For some, Howe’s comments leave the door open for the FA to test how happy he is, although Howe continued to argue he wanted to stay.

“I absolutely want to stay,” he added. “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.

“It’s been a difficult summer in various aspects, no one more important than the other, but as a new team coming together [off the pitch] we have to set our boundaries. We have to see if we can work together in a really fluid, dynamic way to the benefit of Newcastle.

“I’m working every day with the new people to see if the relationships can be beneficial to Newcastle. The transfer window is absolutely massive. That’s no criticism of anyone who has come in. I want to make that absolutely clear.

“Paul Mitchell has an outstanding record as a sporting director, he’s dynamic, he’s very strong, I think he’s exactly the sort of person Newcastle need to take the club forward. We have to be able to work together in key relationships for the football club.”

Asked if he would rather win a trophy for Newcastle next season, or take charge of England in the Nations League, Howe was clear in his preference: “No [not England], it’s win a trophy for Newcastle because I am Newcastle manager. My passion is absolutely Newcastle.”

Howe has made no secret of the fact he would like to manage his country one day, but pointed out all of the quotes attributed this week are old ones when the job was not available.

He added: “I have seen a few of the quotes that historically have come back. I think there’s a book coming out. These all are historical quotes.

“Wherever I’ve worked, I’ve never had a career agenda. Football management changes so quickly.

“I think England is a very special job for someone. I am very patriotic and I’m not ashamed to say that.

“I love my country. I want my country to do well. I was gutted for Gareth and the lads that they did not win the Euros. But I don’t have that job like a burning sensation in me that I have to do it at some stage.

“I’ve said before, if it happens at some stage in the future, then it’s to be for me. If not, then I’m very, very happy in the current role that I’m doing. The day-to-day management.”

Analysis: Howe closes England door – but does not bolt it shut

We all wanted Eddie Howe to talk about England. Whether he was interested in replacing Gareth Southgate and what his response would be if an approach was made by the Football Association.

The fact that Howe wanted to talk almost entirely about Newcastle instead was a fascinating shift in the focus of the conversation. It was very deliberate and impeccably timed as Howe looks to gauge how much power and influence he has under new sporting director Paul Mitchell.

As one Newcastle source told Telegraph Sport, this was a manager “sticking his elbows out” and jostling for position internally. The England job may have been the elephant in the room from a national interest perspective, but Howe was determined to ignore it because, genuinely, all he is worried about is Newcastle.

More than this, he needs to be reassured he is going to remain as happy on Tyneside as he has been up to this point. At the moment, he feels uncertain; unsure, possibly even a little vulnerable.

He is worried the people who have been brought in above him are not only going to change the atmosphere in his working environment, but also ride roughshod over him in areas like recruitment. There is a power battle going on at St James’ Park and that is far more important to Howe than anything else.

It has, in the 46-year-old’s words, been a “very difficult summer.” As Telegraph Sport revealed earlier this week, there has been a dark cloud hovering over Newcastle, with turmoil behind the scenes, not just in making sure the club complied with profit and sustainability rules, but also in the departure of the woman who led the takeover by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, Amanda Staveley. The dark clouds have dispersed, perhaps, after Newcastle sold two players, Yankuba Minteh and Elliot Anderson, to comply with PSR and an internal power struggle in the boardroom was won by chief executive Darren Eales rather than Staveley.

But it has been replaced by a fog of uncertainty, with a manager feeling out how the new management structure is going to operate and whether he can work, not just with Mitchell, but with his ally: the new performance director James Bunce.

Howe wants clarity and to see how this summer transfer window works, whether he still has the final say on transfers, on how the team trains and whether the power he has wielded since he arrived in November 2021 remains intact. Managers do not like change - certainly not if it threatens the way they have always worked - and there has been a lot of it at St James’ Park in the last few weeks.

What is clear is that Howe wants to stay at Newcastle. That is his overwhelming preference. He has repeatedly said as much. He has no burning desire to be England manager now and has always maintained he prefers the daily contact with players that comes with club management. But he is not going to meekly accept new working conditions and parameters on what his job entails. Eales said earlier this week that they want Howe to focus his time and energy on the training ground, to do what he is so talented at, which is coaching and improving players and the team. Howe, though, will want to retain a big say on who those players are. He will not have players forced upon him against his wishes.

These are all things for Howe, Mitchell and Bunce to work through. Which they are, but it is not easy and the three men are feeling each other out. Egos are at play. Howe will want to see what players arrive this summer and whether they are the ones he really wants.

In the background, Howe features prominently on an FA shortlist of potential candidates to become the next manager of the national team. For many, given his excellent work at Bournemouth and Newcastle, he is the outstanding domestic candidate.

The FA may well want to speak to him, but they can take their time. They can sit back and assess how happy Howe is in September, October or even later.

The England question will remain in the background. At the moment, all Howe is interested in and thinking about is Newcastle, but if things do not work smoothly and amicably this summer, he could be far more tempted to listen to what the FA have to say in the autumn.

Howe has not opened the door to an England approach, but he has not locked and bolted it either.

He has not said he wants the job, he has even gone as far as to suggest he has no burning desire to lead the national team, but if he is not going to be happy at Newcastle in a few months time, the door could just open for the FA to get their man.