Newcastle chief says club will fight to keep Eddie Howe amid England speculation

Newcastle will fight to hold on to Eddie Howe amid speculation linking him with the England job.

Howe is one of the bookmakers’ favourites to succeed Gareth Southgate, who announced he was standing down after almost eight years as national team boss on Tuesday morning.

However, Newcastle chief executive Darren Eales is determined to hold on to Howe, after confirming the 46-year-old had agreed a multi-year contract extension last summer.

“We’re on an exciting journey and, as far as we’re concerned, Eddie is the man to lead us on that.

“In any organisation, if you are performing well there will be speculation from other clubs. But Eddie is under a long-term contract with he club.

“You see him, he loves the day to day of club football and we have an exciting project here in terms of the commitment from the ownership and the journey we want to go on. We are really excited about this season ahead.

“He’s a great developer of players. He gets the psyche of the club, and Newcastle, and the fans. We’ve seen that with the way the team and the supporters have that affinity.

Asked if he saw Howe being in the Newcastle dugout for the first game of the new Premier League season in August, Eales replied: “Absolutely, yes.”

Eales said there was not a “set number” for compensation, but that some sort of payment would have to be made as for any employee of the club under a multi-year contract.