Eddie Howe is happy at Newcastle but this felt like a warning to the hierarchy: support me or lose me – amid links to the England job this was a strong power play, writes CRAIG HOPE

If England want Eddie Howe to be their next manager, they would be best off appointing Lee Carsley. At least on an interim basis.

During an incredible half hour with newspaper reporters here in Germany on Friday, Newcastle’s head coach virtually set a trial period for his new working relationship with the club’s sporting director, Paul Mitchell, and performance director, James Bunce.

Howe had just finished a gym session when he sat down with us in a room at adidas HQ in Herzogenaurach, Bavaria, and boy did he flex his muscles. He also showed us his teeth.

After some small talk about a family holiday in Canada — he also visited the United States last summer with his wife and three sons — I joked that he was doing a scouting session for the 2026 World Cup. He saw the humour in it, but the laughter died down when the 46-year-old was quizzed about England.

We expected him to play down the story. That was the word earlier in the day as we watched the head coach lead his team through a training session in 26°C sunshine. There was no cold water, though. Petrol, if there was one.

Howe was at pains to say that his words had nothing to do with England. Instead, all to do with Newcastle. But since every question was asked in the context of England — and he is the bookies’ favourite to replace Gareth Southgate — the elephant was not so much in the corner of the room as on Howe’s lap.

What followed was something he had never done before. He had always wanted to emulate Kevin Keegan, and here he did. Not the Keegan of the Entertainers era, but the Keegan who expressed caution after the arrival of de facto director of football Dennis Wise and sidekick Tony Jimenez under Mike Ashley’s ownership. Keegan eventually resigned and later won a case for constructive dismissal.

We’re not there yet. Far from it. Howe is happy, wants to stay, and doesn’t know how the dynamic with Mitchell and Bunce will play out. He spoke warmly of both. But before a ball is kicked, these felt like warning shots. Given that Mitchell and Bunce are here with the Newcastle party, Howe’s bullets didn’t have far to travel to hit their target.

It was a power grab that evoked memories of another former Newcastle manager, Rafa Benitez. You sometimes had to be a political correspondent to decipher the Spaniard, and this felt straight out of Rafa’s playbook.

Howe did it, however, knowing that he has the support of fans and admirers at the top of the FA. This was a blunt message to the club: support me or lose me. And a more subtle message, perhaps, to the FA: watch and wait. He prefers, you sense, to get the working conditions he wants at Newcastle.

Like any employee who is courted by others, you use it to your advantage. And among the nearly 2,500 words he spoke, this felt like an honest summary of everything.

“I absolutely want to stay but it has to be right for me and the football club,” Howe said. “There’s absolutely no point in saying I’m happy to stay at Newcastle if the dynamics aren’t right. I certainly don’t do Newcastle any favours if I do.”

So what are Howe’s fears after a summer of change at St James’ Park? He has lost key allies Amanda Staveley and Mehrdad Ghodoussi, and the sporting director he reportedly supported, Crystal Palace’s Dougie Freedman, turned the club down at the last minute.

That’s not to say Howe can’t and won’t work well with Mitchell and Bunce, but there’s uncertainty on his side. Asked if he would still have final say on the incoming players, there was a terse response — “these are things we’re working on” — and a silence that made even the elephant uncomfortable.

“There has been a lot of change at the club this summer,” he added. “It has been a very difficult summer for everyone involved with the club. With change always comes a new feeling.

‘You can point to PSR (profit and sustainability rules), Amanda and Mehrdad leaving, a change of sporting director which of course affects me. These are all big changes.

“I don’t think I have the right, or the will, to challenge those decisions. The club has to choose its direction and that ability is their right. I have no problem with that. But of course I have to be happy in my job. I have to feel that this is something that benefits me and the club, otherwise it won’t work. I hope you understand what I’m trying to say.

“As long as I’m happy, as long as I feel supported, as long as I feel free to work the way I want to work, I’ve never thought about anything else but Newcastle. I absolutely love the club, I love the supporters, I love where I’m at in my career. There’s no better place for me to be.

“It’s about Newcastle United being as strong as we can be for next season and beyond. We all need to come together and make sure we are the force we want to be.”

This week, a photo was taken in Germany of Howe, Mitchell, Bunce and CEO Darren Eales all laughing and chatting. It had a strong vibe of new kids in high school. Howe stressed that he had gone through his primary school years with an even bigger smile.

“I’ve been very happy for two and a half years,” he said. “I’ve enjoyed every second of the relationships I’ve had and the way I’ve been able to work. I think that’s what’s brought success.

‘We are in a flux of change, it has just happened. I can’t say definitively where it will lead. I hope it leads to everything I have just said. It could easily do that, but it has to be that way for Newcastle, not so much for me.’

But what about England? Does he fancy it? A World Cup in a country he and his family love, followed by a home Euro, will be tempting. In private, however, Howe has always said that his greatest love is coaching from Monday to Friday, improving players and preparing them for a match.

He would lose that with England. The suspicion remains that the timing is not right, unless, like Keegan, he discovers that he cannot exist under the club’s new power structure.

But he did answer our question about whether he would ever want to coach the national team.

“England is a very special job for someone,” he said. “I’m very patriotic and I’m not ashamed to say that. I love my country. I want my country to do well. I was devastated for Gareth and the lads that they didn’t win the Euros.

“But I don’t have a burning feeling inside me that I feel like I have to do that at some point. I’ve said before, if it happens at some point in the future, then it’s for me. And if not, then I’m very, very happy with the role that I’m in, the day-to-day management.”

And it seems that Howe is taking his situation at Newcastle one day at a time, so the FA may well sit back and see if their man ends up in the ejector seat.