Eddie Howe is set to leave Newcastle with immediate effect after five years as Toon boss. Howe oversaw a humbling 4-1 defeat by Championship side Bristol City in a pre-season friendly last night.
Al-Ahli boss Matthias Jaissle has been lined up as his replacement.
Following the defeat at Ashton Gate, Howe hinted his time may be up and that he had lost control of transfers in light of Arsenal’s interest in Bruno Guimaraes.
“What will be, will be,” he said. “We can’t control the forces that are at play here, we’ve just got to make sure that when Bruno comes back, we look after him and he trains well, which I’m sure he will do.
“And he makes a difference as he always has done.”
Eddie Howe is set to leave Newcastle(Image: Richard Sellers/PA Wire)
Howe is now set to take a break from football. Newcastle are understood to have been working on an exit plan for the last two weeks. His exit is an amicable one and his first indication that he wanted to leave came at the start of pre-season training.
Howe joined Newcastle in November 2021 following the sacking of Steve Bruce. Newcastle had been taken over by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund the previous month.
The Magpies won 12 of their final 18 games of the season to finish 11th and become the first team in Premier League history to avoid relegation after going winless in their first 14 fixtures.
Matthias Jaissle is in line to replace Howe at Newcastle(Image: Getty Images)
Howe penned a long-term extension in August 2022 and later that season led Newcastle to the League Cup final where they were beaten by Manchester United.
Newcastle qualified for the Champions League for the first time in 20 years by finishing in the top four, but finished bottom of their group with just five points.
Howe took charge of his first Tyne-Wear derby in January 2024 as Newcastle beat Sunderland 3-0 at the Stadium of Light in the FA Cup third round.
Howe spent five years as Newcastle manager(Image: Serena Taylor/Newcastle United via Getty Images)
The Toon fell out of Europe but registered their first major trophy for 56 years when they beat Liverpool in the 2025 League Cup final under Howe’s stewardship.
Newcastle again qualified for the Champions League but could only muster a 12th-placed finish in 2025-26, also losing both games to newly-promoted Sunderland who finished in seventh.
Previously, Howe spent the entirety of his playing career with Bournemouth, other than playing twice for Portsmouth in the early 2000s.
Bruno Guimaraes’ impending exit seems to have played a part in Howe’s departure(Image: Richard Pelham/Getty Images)
He became Bournemouth boss in 2008, leaving in 2011 for Burnley. But he returned to the south coast in 2012 and spent eight years in charge of the Cherries, leading them to the Premier League for the first time in their history.
German boss Jaissle, 38, was Red Bull Salzburg manager between 2021 and 2023 before moving to Saudi Arabia to take charge of Al-Ahli.
He won the Austrian Bundesliga in consecutive seasons and has led Al-Ahli to back-to-back Asian Champions League titles.