For the final Up Front of 2024, Simon has travelled to the north-east to meet the Newcastle United manager Eddie Howe.

In a wide ranging interview, Eddie talks about his aims at Newcastle, whether PSR is hindering its ability to compete for the biggest trophies, how much he considered the politics surrounding the club before taking on the role and his relationship with the hierarchy at St James’s Park.

He also discusses whether he would have liked to have been considered for the England job, his success at Bournemouth and why he chose not to become the manager of Celtic. Did he, as Simon has suggested in the past, bottle it?

He also reflects on the nature of football management in the modern era: why managers who fail aren’t necessarily bad at their job, whether you should stick doggedly to a footballing philosophy, whether it’s harder managing up or managing down and the pressures placed on footballers at the highest level.

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