Eddie Howe on his future: 'I have to retain that confidence'

Eddie Howe on his future: 'I have to retain that confidence'

Eddie Howe has talked about his future at Newcastle United with the club currently 14th in the table.

Speculation over Howe's future had been fuelled in recent days with the annual meeting of the club's department heads.

"It was an opportunity to see a lot of the people that I haven’t seen in a while," Howe said about the meetings when asked ahead of his team's game against Brighton & Hove Albion on Tuesday.

"Obviously, the owners and representatives of PIF were over, and it was constructive. It was a good meeting, and I was a small part of that.

"But yeah, it’s always constructive because I think they clearly care about the football club, with the long-term planning that is clearly going on and there are very exciting times for the club ahead, regardless of what happens short-term. The long-term version is clearly there."

Howe went on to say that he still has the same level of support from the club and expanded on the question about whether he will be in the Newcastle dugout next season: "I have to retain that confidence. I don’t think it serves anybody to not have that long-term vision.

"So, it’s interesting how you do the job, because you pretty much look at it day to day – how can we prepare for Brighton with one eye on next week, and one eye on the summer, and then one eye on next season?

"That’s always how I have managed. You look after long-term interests whilst taking care of the very short-term aims that you need, and that will never change.

"Regardless of results, you have to have that for the benefit of the football club. You always have to think of the football club first. We need to win games."

The Magpies are currently on a five-game losing streak in all competitions and are currently the same number of points away from 18th-placed as they are from sixth-placed Brighton.