Jason Tindall, king of touchline chaos, has Newcastle barking up right tree
Name the assistant manager noted for clashing with, among several others, Mikel Arteta, Jürgen Klopp and Unai Emery on Premier League touchlines and, occasionally, in stadium tunnels?
Given quiz questions rarely come much easier there are no prizes for supplying the correct answer: Newcastle’s Jason Tindall.
The self-styled king of technical area chaos, affectionately referred to as “Mad Dog” on Tyneside, has been at Eddie Howe’s side pretty much ever since the pair formed a central defensive partnership as Bournemouth players. Indeed he ranks as one of the few people the ever-wary Newcastle manager really trusts.
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There is much more to Tindall than the popular image of an assistant repeatedly “shushing” opposition managers. Admittedly he is subject to a Football Association charge for his part in provoking a 20-man tunnel brawl during half-time as Newcastle beat Aston Villa on Boxing Day at St James’ Park but his expertise extends well beyond elevating time-wasting ploys to an art form.
Although Howe’s caring, holistic, public persona is not an act, Newcastle’s manager has a harder, more detached side and does not like being crossed but, unusually, he listens when his assistant disagrees with him. “Jason and I didn’t really have a relationship as players,” Howe says. “We’re very different people – he’s definitely more extrovert. But there’s a force when we come together that’s really powerful.”
If the three promotions in six years the pair secured in a coaching tandem after Howe pulled on the manager’s tracksuit at Bournemouth vindicates that assessment, Newcastle’s metamorphosis under their guidance represents further testament to the strength of football’s odd couple.
When Bournemouth arrive on Tyneside on Saturday they will face a team fourth in the Premier League and seeking a 10th straight win in all competitions.
Tindall is a big reason why Howe is in the north-east. In May 2021, Howe seemed set to become Celtic’s manager but there was one, ultimately insurmountable, problem. Once it became clear “Mad Dog” would not be joining him in Glasgow, Howe’s interest cooled and a door opened for Ange Postecoglou.
Six months later Tindall was spotted driving his old boss to meet Newcastle directors and, in November 2021, normal service resumed. It marked the resurrection of one of the game’s most enduring, if unlikely, double acts, ending an amicable temporary split involving Tindall briefly succeeding Howe as Bournemouth’s manager before a stint coaching at Sheffield United.
Tindall has proved a big hit in the dressing room at Newcastle where, unlike Howe, he has no need to sometimes distance himself from players. Both men are high-calibre mud-on-boots coaches, with Tindall priding himself on choreographing innovative set-piece routines. Then there’s the mastery of the largely time-wasting-based gamesmanship that so irks the normally urbane Emery and co.
As recently as Wednesday night Tindall was at it again, infuriating Vítor Pereira and his staff by charging through the away technical area to retrieve the ball and enable Lewis Hall to take a swift throw-in as Wolves lost 3-0 in the north-east.
If the Mile End-born Tindall enjoys playing up to the loud, brash caricature of an East End wide boy, that image is inaccurately one-dimensional. Like Howe, the 47-year-old – he is two weeks the Newcastle manager’s senior – is obsessed with fine margins, memorably changing the colour of Bournemouth’s goal nets from red and black to white to enhance the peripheral vision of the club’s strikers.
Tindall’s playing career, like Howe’s, was ended by knee trouble in his late 20s by which time he had undergone 12 operations. As a schoolboy he shone in midfield for the famous Senrab boys’ club in east London founded by his father, Jimmy, but injuries stripped the fluency from his game and coaching emphasised the paternalistic streak lurking beneath the surface.
Jermain Defoe recalls being loaned to Bournemouth from West Ham as a teenager and lodging with Tindall. “Jason used to cook my pre-match meal every Saturday morning – baked beans, spaghetti and toast,” says Defoe. “He looked after me really well. Eddie was a natural leader but it was Jason I mostly talked to. During games he and Eddie kicked everyone.”
By 2016 Tindall was honing the more sophisticated defensive coaching skills that have helped, among others, Newcastle’s Fabian Schär, Hall and Dan Burn smash apparent technical, physical and tactical glass ceilings.
“At his core, Jason’s a serious coach,” says Howe. “To understand his role you have to go back to where we started in charge at Bournemouth. We had no money, no real facilities. We did everything together. You name it, we did it. It was just the two of us.”
Although the duo rarely socialise, the ties that bind their families are very real, with Howe following the rapid progress his assistant’s son, Levi, is making in Bournemouth’s academy.
Tindall Sr sometimes wears a specially adapted Wham tribute hoodie, emblazoned with images of his and Howe’s faces.
It is intended to thank those Newcastle fans who have personalised the lyrics of Last Christmas in his honour: “I gave you my heart but the very next day you gave it away. This year, to save me from tears, I’ll give it to Jason Tindall.”
Rivals supporters tend to be less enamoured but “Mad Dog” remains unperturbed. “The abuse is a compliment to Newcastle,” Tindall says. “I’m thick-skinned enough not to take it personally. A lot of people like to hate and there’s jealousy out there. A lot of people don’t like Newcastle challenging at the top.”