Eddie Howe has left Newcastle United after nearly five years as head coach, walking away three weeks before the new Premier League season begins. The club had not issued a statement as the news emerged on Thursday morning.
Howe told Newcastle's hierarchy around a fortnight ago that he wanted to leave. The club asked him to reconsider, then asked him to stay on while a successor was identified, and he agreed. He is understood to have no other job to go to, his decision resting on a feeling that his tenure had run its course, and he intends to take a break from the game.
The 48-year-old succeeded Steve Bruce in November 2021, a month after the Saudi Public Investment Fund bought the club, with Newcastle 19th and heading for a relegation fight. He kept them up, took them into the Champions League twice and won the 2025 Carabao Cup, the club's first major domestic trophy in 70 years. Last season was harder: Newcastle finished 12th, winning 14 and losing 17 of their 38 league games.
Recruitment was at the heart of it, though not the only factor. Anthony Gordon has joined Barcelona this summer and Sandro Tonali has gone to Tottenham, a year after Alexander Isak's £125m move to Liverpool, and Arsenal are pursuing the captain, Bruno Guimaraes. With the club selling to stay inside football's spending rules, the money has been reinvested in young and largely unproven players. After Wednesday's 4-1 pre-season defeat at Bristol City, his final match in charge, Howe said he had lost control of transfers.