Eddie Howe will receive a £3 million pay rise if Newcastle United qualify for the Champions League next season after masterminding the team’s first major trophy win for 56 years.
Under the terms of the long-term contract Howe signed without fanfare last season, the 47-year-old, who currently earns around £6 million a year, will receive a large pay rise if the team qualify for European football’s most prestigious competition.
Having made sure of at least a place in the European Conference League by winning the Carabao Cup, Howe will now target a top-five finish to ensure a Champions League place, which would see his wage rise by 50 per cent to around £9 million a year. Newcastle are currently sixth in the table, two points behind fourth-placed Chelsea with a game in hand.
The normally reserved Howe almost cracked with the emotion of ending Newcastle’s long and painful wait for silverware, holding back tears in his post-match press conference as he dedicated the win to his late mother Anne.
From the moment he accepted the job in November 2021, this was the trophy he wanted to win. In doing so, it not only secured the first major trophy of his managerial career, it established him as the most successful Newcastle manager for 70 years, as the club’s last domestic silverware was the 1955 FA Cup.
It is understood the club’s Saudi Arabian owners had already expressed their gratitude to Howe for the job he has done at a board meeting earlier this month, when chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan promised to listen to his needs ahead of an ambitious summer of recruitment.
Howe’s achievements during his four seasons in charge of Newcastle have turned him into one of football’s hottest properties, but the club are confident they will be able to ward off any interest from rivals clubs, as well as the Football Association, should they turn their attention to him after next summer’s World Cup.
Newcastle agreed an extension with Howe last season that will keep him at the club until the summer of 2028 and he could even be offered an even longer deal when the club pauses for reflection in the summer.
Howe’s family are settled on Tyneside and wife Vicky, as well as their three boys, love living in the North East. It is thought he will be receptive if the club look to extend his contract for a third time.
It promises to be a key summer for the Newcastle hierarchy as they look to build on their success this term. Several of the players involved in Wembley’s final are in their early 30s and sporting director Paul Mitchell wants to lower the average age of the squad. He and Howe have built a strong working relationship and the manager, who led recruitment before Mitchell arrived last summer, must be listened to when it comes to identifying suitable players to pursue.
Much-admired striker Alexander Isak will be offered a new long-term deal as soon as possible, even though the Sweden international still has three years remaining on his existing one.
The 25-year-old has always insisted he is happy on Tyneside and the club are confident he will agree to extend his stay especially now they have proven they can win things.
Newcastle, though, are braced for interest in several of their star players in the summer with winger Anthony Gordon, as well as midfielders Bruno Guimaraes and Sandro Tonali admired by a host of clubs in Europe.
