Newcastle United appointed Eddie Howe as head coach in November 2021. Head coach Eddie Howe says he would step aside if he did not think he was still the right man to lead Newcastle United.

Newcastle were booed off by their supporters following a damaging 3-2 defeat against Brentford at St James' Park on Saturday. Howe was crestfallen afterwards and said he was "not doing my job well enough at the moment" after his side slipped to 12th place in the Premier League table.

However, two days later, Howe - who ended the club's seven-decade wait for a major domestic trophy 11 months ago - said there was "no doubt in my mind" he was the right man for the job. "That's why I'm sitting here," he said on the eve of Tuesday's game at Tottenham Hotspur. "If there was doubt, I wouldn't be - because the club is the most important thing. I've never put myself before the club.

"If I didn't think I was the correct man to take the team forward, and I couldn't give the players what they need, then I would step aside and let someone else do it." Newcastle have won only one of their last eight games in all competitions, but Howe retains the backing of the club's hierarchy.

He has had a transformational impact since his appointment in 2021, beating Liverpool in the Carabao Cup final last year and taking Newcastle into the Champions League twice. Newcastle will be favourites to progress to the last 16 of the Champions League against Azerbaijan side Qarabag and have a FA Cup fourth-round tie against Aston Villa on Saturday.

The Newcastle head coach acknowledged he was going through one of the toughest periods of his reign but is drawing on the experiences of previous difficult periods to turn things round. "Those experiences I have been through countless times before stand me in good stead for this moment," he added.

"The collective spirit is what we're after. We're after the collective fight from all the players and if you have that resolve within the group, you can do amazing things again, so it can turn very quickly. The momentum is against us at the moment. We have to swing it back and then the world can look a very different place within a couple of games."