Eddie Howe: Newcastle boss admits to being ‘not 100 per cent’ but is glad to be back after illness

Newcastle boss Eddie Howe admitted he was “not 100 per cent” physically but was delighted to be back as he made his return to work following his recovery from pneumonia.

The club announced the 47-year-old, who was admitted to hospital on April 11 after feeling unwell for several days, was back at work on Wednesday.

The Magpies boss missed his side’s Premier League fixtures against Manchester United, Crystal Palace and Aston Villa but is back in time for their clash with relegation-threatened Ipswich on Saturday.

Howe admitted he had experienced a “range of emotions” in what has been a challenging couple of weeks.

“I’m okay,” Howe said. “I’m not 100 per cent in my body, but I’d like to think I’m very close to 100 per cent in my mind, which is the most important thing.

“I tried to take a positive from every experience – I think that’s really important to try and do that – but this has been a real challenge because your health, you take for granted.

“I certainly have, and when you don’t have the luxury of feeling normal it can be very difficult.

“I certainly have been through a range of emotions, but thankfully I feel like I’m on the road to recovery, which is the most important thing and I’m delighted to be here.”

Howe revealed he started to feel unwell around Newcastle’s 3-0 victory over Leicester on April 7 and was pleased that the decision was made for him to go to hospital.

“The Leicester game I felt awful,” Howe added. I have to apologise also to anyone that saw me around the Leicester game because I wasn’t myself. If I did see anybody, I was very withdrawn, so I’d like to think I’m in a much better place now.”

“I planned to come back to training ahead of Man Utd. I had a shower and was getting ready to go and something was telling me ‘no’. That was the moment things changed.

“I was pleased to be told to go to hospital. That was the right place for me. It was a bit of a relief to get that care in that moment.

“My takeaway is I need to give myself a bit more care and love if I can, and give more thought to what I’m doing.”

Howe also praised the ‘quick intervention’ of Newcastle club doctor Paul Catterson.

“Well it was, in the respect that I felt really bad but I didn’t know how bad. I’m one of those people, probably like most men, that you sort of go through everything, you don’t necessarily offer yourself to doctors and people but think ‘I’ll be ok in a couple of days, I’ll fight through it’. I’m very much in the mindset of that.

“I’ll go through anything until you can’t, so I was very thankful the doctor here, Paul Catterson, acted quickly because without that quick intervention it could possibly have had a different outcome.

“I was treated really well in hospital and now thankfully, through the worst of it.”

Howe’s praise for Tindall and coaches

Newcastle assistant boss Jason Tindall had been standing in for Howe, overseeing wins over Man Utd and Crystal Palace before finishing with a heavy defeat at Aston Villa.

Howe was full of praise for the job Tindall did in his absence, and all the coaches who aided him.

He said: “I made a conscious decision, when I felt I didn’t feel well enough to focus on the football, to give Jason [Tindall] and all the coaches the full responsibility.

“For me, you’re either all in or all out, and I couldn’t contribute, so I said to Jason right at the start ‘it’s over to you’, and and didn’t he do well.

“I thought he was absolutely brilliant with Graeme [Jones], Simon [Weatherstone] and Stephen [Purches], and all the coaches and the players. I thought they were absolutely magnificent.

“I was able to watch all of the games. For those first two games [wins against Manchester United and Crystal Palace], I was watching and involved. I wasn’t feeling well enough to probably enjoy the performances, but a big thank you to the players because they gave everything in those two games to get two massive wins for us.

“The staff behaved and acted absolutely brilliantly so a real tribute to them and now I’m back I hope I can add something to the group as we go into the last five games.

“I think he [Tindall] did absolutely brilliantly and I am very lucky to have him.”

On his return to work he added: “I came back in and it was normal – normal service resumed – probably minus running around. A lot more reserved physically and I think I’m going to be that way for a while, but certainly back to normal service.”

Howe on battle to qualify for CL…

Newcastle boss Eddie Howe:

“I see it being very, very tight and possibly going right to the end of the season in terms of the competition for the top five places.

“I think we’ve put ourselves in a very strong position for what we’ve done for a consistent period of time now in the Premier League. Our record’s been very, very good for a long time.

“But now we sort of go into a five-game league, really, where we’re going to have to be consistent again and try and get results in some really tough games.

“So we’re looking forward to the five games ahead of us, starting against Ipswich will not be easy. You look at their recent away form, it’s been strong.

“We can’t underestimate them in any way.”