Eddie Howe met Kevin Keegan this week and got a taste of King Kev’s dreaming.
The man who made the Entertainers in the 1990s told the current Newcastle boss he can win the Champions League and the Premier League this season.
No pressure then. The two miracle workers of St James’s Park - only 25 years apart - are very different in style, but similar in substance. The old Keegan spirit of intoxicating optimism. Howe more guarded but injecting Tyneside with belief and intensity. But both loved by their players.
A meeting of the two minds was timely ahead of Newcastle’s Champions League clash with Dortmund, when a win would almost guarantee progress from the Group of Death.
Howe said of his Keegan meet up at a book launch: “To speak to him and spend time with him was a brilliant thing. He’s got such a great personality. He told a lot of jokes and there was a lot of laughter.
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“But you could also sense his emotion towards Newcastle and the emotion coming back from the people in the room. I thoroughly enjoyed it and I think he did and I’d love to get him back here again in some way for the supporters to show their appreciation of him.”
On Keegan’s belief Newcastle could win something this season, Howe said: “You have to be a dreamer. He said we’re in the Champions League so we have a chance to win it, and I agree. If you’re in a competition, you have to have that mindset that you try and win every game and see where it takes you. That’s very much my mindset.
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Eddie Howe knows a win against Borussia Dortmund would put Newcastle in a strong position (Harriet Massey/Newcastle United)“I don’t want to heap a load of pressure on the players, they’ve got enough to deal with this season, so it’s small steps.
“Kevin’s such a charismatic person. That’s probably why I took from him, that he was full of laughter. I’d love to spend more time with him and bring him back to the football club.”
Newcastle stunned Europe with their demolition of PSG last time out at St James’ Park and it’ll be another noisy night of passionate support.
Howe says winning games like this bolster the club’s reputation. “My aim, our aim, is to try and win a trophy. I am not shy of saying that. That is the ultimate aim. Whatever competition it is, we will try to do our best. But the better you do in the high profile competitions the more you can improve your name.”
Howe met with former Newcastle and England manager Kevin Keegan this week (Julian Hamilton/Daily Miiror)Newcastle are on a rapid learning curve at this level, but a win puts them on seven points ahead of trips to Germany and Paris. “It’s a pivotal game in the group,” Howe explained.
“PSG game was a massive result for us and if we can follow that up again, that is our challenge, we will be in a good position. It’s a big if at this moment in time because we know the quality that Dortmund have.
“We were pumped, and so were the crowd, for the PSG game. We need to create that again. We need to recreate that level of intensity. We were in the perfect place mentally. We need to forget the PSG result and recreate the energy levels and quality to win, and the atmosphere.
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“I think we start with a bit more understanding of the dynamics, of what is going to happen to us, and what we are going through. I am reluctant to draw too many long-term conclusions because we are still very early. It is only our third game so this will be a big test.”
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