Newcastle United legend Alan Shearer has thanked Eddie How for giving him the best day of his life as a fan but warned there are challenging times ahead for the club.
Sources have told ESPN that Howe will leave Newcastle before the start of the season. It’s understood he has been frustrated with the club’s transfer situation.
Having lost Alexander Isak to Liverpool last summer, other big names have left the club this year including Anthony Gordon and Sandro Tolanli. Arsenal also have growing confidence that they will sign Bruno Guimarães.
Shearer, writing in his column for the BBC, said he expects a tough season.
“Speaking purely as a fan, I think we have to get ready for a tough season and some very challenging times ahead,” Shearer said.
“I don’t know exactly what has gone on behind the scenes for this to happen now but I guess, from his point of view, he was seeing his best players being sold — first Isak, then Anthony Gordon and Sandro Tonali this summer — and with speculation over captain Bruno Guimaraes’ future too.
“He has probably thought it was a tough enough job anyway, but it is just getting tougher. You cannot keep on selling your best players and then hope to be in contention at the top of the table — I hope I’m wrong but it is probably inevitable that Bruno will be next to leave.”
– Eddie Howe set to leave Newcastle – sources
– Arsenal confident of signing Guimarães as Howe leaves Newcastle – sources
Howe joined the club in 2021 after leaving Bournemouth and helped the club win their first major trophy in 56 years, beating Liverpool in the 2025 EFL Cup final. Newcastle also reached the Champions League twice during Howe’s tenure.
“Eddie will always be a legend in the eyes of the Geordie public for ending our long wait for a major trophy with that epic day he gave us at Wembley when we won the Carabao Cup in 2025,” Sherarer said.
“I had craved that moment for my entire life. I had been to Wembley before as a Toon player and I had been there before as a Toon fan, and we’d all had the same feeling of walking away empty-handed.”
