Eddie Howe wants to stay at Newcastle United on the condition it is “right for me and the football club” amid speculation he is the favourite to replace Gareth Southgate as England boss.
Howe hinted he was taking a wait-and-see approach at Newcastle with a new sporting director Paul Mitchell and new performance director James Bunce joining the club since the end of last season.
Asked if he would be in charge at the start of next term, Howe told reporters on the club’s pre-season trip to Germany: “As long as I’m happy in the position that I’m in, as long as I feel supported by the football club and free to work in the way that I want to work, yes.”
“For me, that’s always been my key driver – my happiness and my ability to do my job.
“I absolutely want to stay but it has to be right for me and the football club. There’s absolutely no point in me saying I’m happy staying at Newcastle if the dynamic isn’t right. I’m certainly not serving Newcastle well if I do that.
“As a new team coming together [off the pitch] we have to set our boundaries. We have to see if we can work together in a really fluid, dynamic way to the benefit of Newcastle.”
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There has been a fair amount of upheaval at St James’ Park over the last couple of months with the club having to sell young talents Elliot Anderson and Yankuba Minteh to raise funds to comply with Profit and Sustainability Regulations, while minority owners Amanda Staveley and Mehrdad Ghodoussi – who were instrumental in luring Howe to Tyneside – have moved on.
The former Bournemouth boss added: “There has been a lot of change at the football club this summer. It has been a very difficult summer for everyone connected with the club. With change comes always a new feeling.
“You can point to PSR, Amanda and Mehrdad leaving, a change in sporting director which, of course, influences me. These are all big changes.
“I don’t think I have the right to challenge those or the want to challenge those decisions. The club has to choose its direction and that ability is their right.
“I’ve got no issue with that. But obviously I have to be happy in my work. I have to feel that this is something that can benefit me and the football club for it to work. I hope you understand what I’m trying to say.
“It’s not about me as the manager. I’m slightly irrelevant. It’s about making sure Newcastle United is as strong as it can be for the next season and beyond. We’ve all got to come together and make sure we are the force that we want to be.”
He added: “I have been really happy for two-and-a-half years. I have loved every second of the relationships that I’ve had and the way I’ve been able to work. I think that has brought success.
“We’re in the flux of change, it’s just happened. I can’t say with a definitive answer where that will lead. I hope it leads to everything that I’ve just said. That could easily be the case, but it needs to be that way for Newcastle, not so much for me. The club is always the most important thing.”
Howe is reportedly on the shortlist to succeed Southgate along with the likes of Thomas Tuchel, Graham Potter and Mauricio Pochettino.
It had been reported the 46-year-old held a long-term ambition to manage the Three Lions but he said that wasn’t the case.
“I think England is a very special job for someone,” he said. “I am very patriotic and I’m not ashamed to say that. I love my country. I want my country to do well.
“I was gutted for Gareth and the lads that they did not win the Euros. But I don’t have a burning sensation within me that I feel I have to do that at some stage. I’ve said before, if it happens at some stage in the future, then it’s to be for me. If not, then I’m very, very happy in the current role that I’m doing, the day-to-day management.”
