Eddie Howe leaves role as Newcastle United manager with his replacement already lined up
The Athletic’s David Ornstein reported that he is set to leave his position as the club’s head coach, with Matthias Jaissle of Al Ahli poised to replace him.
Howe’s time in charge comes to an end after five years, telling Newcastle that he wants to take a break from football.
They both remain amicable with Newcastle, and talks with Jaissle, 38, at an advanced stage.
🚨 EXCLUSIVE: Eddie Howe set to leave Newcastle United. All parties initially chose to continue but 48yo has informed #NUFC of decision to take break & will depart after 5yrs as head coach. Matthias Jaissle of Al Ahli lined up as replacement @TheAthleticFC https://t.co/zrVnbFEvBd
— David Ornstein (@David_Ornstein) July 30, 2026
Eddie Howe speaking to official club media:
“I thought it was a very good test for us. The scoreline is a difficult one for us to take, I don’t think we deserved that at all. I think anyone who watched the game would have seen that we were very competitive. The goals we conceded were strange ones. First one is obviously a long range free-kick, it was a good strike from their lad and I think it took a slight deflection on the way in. Second one is I think a foul on Sven [Botman]. Third one we made a mistake and got counter-attacked. And the fourth one is an own goal. I think they have had six shots in the game and scored four goals. The majority of the game I think we had control of with the ball, we probably didn’t do enough with it in terms of creativity and chances. Although we certainly should have scored more than the one we got.”
Club interviewer: “A good crowd, good opponents, obviously 3,500 Newcastle United fans as well. You say a good test, is that exactly the type of challenge you want at this stage of the pre-season?”
Eddie Howe: “Yeah, it is. Ideally you don’t want to lose, I’m not saying that we are happy to lose, we’re not, we wanted to win the game. But you do want a test, you don’t want the games to be too easy. We knew coming here with the squad that we have and the current state of their physical well being, in terms of we haven’t trained for too long compared to a Championship team who no doubt will be a week to two weeks ahead of us. We knew it would be very difficult, we felt we would be probably strong enough to do better in terms of scoreline. But I am really pleased the players came through extended minutes. Fitness levels looked pretty good and we will be better for the game.”
Club interviewer: “The one player who didn’t come through too long of the game was Fabian Schar. He came off early, he walked off, is that an encouraging sign?”
Eddie Howe: “Yeah, I think it is an encouraging sign. I’m not quite sure what the injury is. I don’t think Fab is entirely sure himself. He felt a bit of tightness in his groin and it was nagging him as the game went on. He had to come off and that was a blow for us because two such good distributors of the ball, Sven and Fabi together, but Alex [Murphy] did well when he came one. But obviously that meant a reshuffle with a left footer playing on the right side.”
Eddie Howe on this evening’s game at Ashton Gate 🗣️ pic.twitter.com/GrYLi9dTI6
— Newcastle United (@NUFC) July 29, 2026
