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FA's England plan for Eddie Howe revealed - and what that could mean for Newcastle
THE Football Association will seek permission to speak to Newcastle United head coach Eddie Howe about the England manager’s position if Gareth Southgate leaves his role in the wake of Euro 2024.
Southgate is preparing to lead England into his fourth major tournament as boss this weekend, and has conceded that he “probably won’t be here anymore” if his side do not lift the European Championship trophy in Germany.
FA chief executive, Mark Bullingham, has been discussing Southgate’s future ahead of England’s opening Group C game against Serbia on Sunday, and while he insists there have been no discussions with possible successors, he confirmed the governing body has a plan in mind given that Southgate’s current £2.5m-a-year contract is due to expire in December.
“I have said before that any organisation really has a succession plan in place for their top employees, and we are no different to that,” said Bullingham. “This succession plan normally includes everything from what you do for short-term cover, through to a process you follow to candidates. We have that for top employees.”
While England Women are currently led by a foreign boss in the shape of Sarina Wiegman, Bullingham admits that, ideally, he would like to see a homegrown boss in charge of the national team.
The FA invested more than £100m into the creation and development of St George’s Park with the aim to create a pathway for domestic coaches right to the top of the English game.
“We have two senior coaches,” said Bullingham. “One of them is English, one of them is not. But any federation in the world would always want to have a pool of top homegrown talent playing and managing at any time.”
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The FA would certainly want to include at least English coach on their shortlist to succeed Southgate, with Howe currently understood to be at the top of their potential wanted list.
The 46-year-old was first linked with the English job during his time with Bournemouth, and his stock has risen significantly during his time with Newcastle. Having guided the Magpies to safety in his first season in charge, he then took the club back into the Champions League for the first time in two decades in his second campaign on Tyneside. Last season was more testing, but despite a series of injury issues, Howe still led Newcastle to a creditable seventh-place finish.
As well as acknowledging his achievements on the pitch, senior FA chiefs are also understood to have been extremely impressed by the adept way in which Howe has handled criticisms over Newcastle’s links to Saudi Arabia and dealt with questions about the various ethical and political concerns the club’s ownership situation creates. The England manager’s job sets the tone for the entire FA organisation, and comes with huge political and social pressures, and the FA feel Howe will not be fazed by anything that is thrown at him.
There is likely to be an extremely small pool of domestic candidates under consideration if Southgate leaves – Graham Potter has his admirers despite his struggles at Chelsea, while Lee Carsley is regarded to have done a good job with the Under-21s – but it would appear that Howe is the leading domestic candidate by some distance.
The Newcastle hierarchy have always been confident that Howe would opt to remain in his current position if he was offered the England job, and sources continue to insist that the Magpies boss is extremely happy on Tyneside and excited by the possibility of what the next few years could bring.
However, there is also an acknowledgement that the England manager’s job holds a unique appeal, even if would mean stepping away from day-to-day coaching, which has always been Howe’s biggest passion.
The Newcastle boss was asked about the potential to lead England in an interview on The Overlap with Gary Neville last month.
He said: “It’s a strange one for me because I’m totally oblivious to everything. I’m so focused on the day-to-day part, it’s not a cliched answer, it’s the truth, I don’t lift my head and see what is going on or what people say.
“Talking on the national team, my big memories were watching you (Neville) play for England. That era was very much me in my early years forming a love with England and wanting them to do well, having that feeling of devastation when we didn’t quite make it over the line.
“I loved that feeling of watching the national team, I was submersed in it. I love England and I hope they go on and win the Euros this summer, and I think they can. I love Gareth, and I’ve got a real determination for England to win.
“I’ve never really thought about international football for me, personally. Who knows what will happen in the future.”
