The answer? Not like you’d expect. Or at least, nothing like the caricature you’ve probably built up in your mind after watching Tindall on the touchline alongside Howe.
Match-day Tindall is certainly very different to the person who fielded questions at Newcastle’s Darsley Park training complex on Friday, and that has emerged on the previous occasions when he has stood in for Howe in front of the press.
Match-day Tindall is ‘Mad Dog’, the nickname that has accompanied the 47-year-old throughout the decade-and-a-half in which he has worked alongside Howe at first Bournemouth and then Newcastle.
It’s the perma-tanned agitator with the gleaming white teeth that gets under the skin of opposition managers and coaches. It’s the cocksure, arrogant figure that riles fourth officials and helps whips up the atmosphere inside St James’ Park. It’s the emotional ying to Howe’s level-headed yang, so surely, whatever the circumstances, Tindall’s natural exuberance will dominate a room?
Not so. Away from the touchline, Tindall is markedly different. He’s much quieter for a start, almost to the point of being shy. He’s thoughtful and reflective rather than argumentative and opinionated. He’s softly spoken, polite, almost uncomfortable in his own skin. Not at all like you’d expect if you didn’t know him.
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So, is Tindall’s touchline persona simply an act, a switch that is flicked the moment he walks out of the tunnel? Is it something he turns on to help take the pressure off Howe? Is it integral to his method of coaching? Or is he simply having a laugh at everyone else’s expense?
“I have always said, ‘I am who I am’,” said Tindall, who will take charge of Newcastle for today’s home game with Manchester United after Howe was hospitalised because of an illness on Friday evening. “I have always been that way, it’s not new.
“I will continue to be that way. I know the role I play on a day-to-day basis and on matchdays. The only thing that is important for me is to do the best I can for this club. That is what I will continue to do as long as I’m here.”
To that end, Tindall clearly doesn’t mind who he annoys. He certainly won’t be on Unai Emery’s Christmas card list after the explosive tunnel bust-up that Villa were adamant Tindall created at St James’ Park earlier this season, but the Spaniard is hardly the only opposition figure to have been riled by Newcastle’s number two.
Jurgen Klopp didn’t see eye to eye with him, Mikel Arteta appears to get equally agitated. Premier League bosses clubbed together last season to push through a rule change that is supposed to prevent two backroom figures standing alongside each other at the same time in the technical area. Privately, it was known as the ‘Tindall’ rule. More often than not, the person it was brought in to restrain simply ignores it.
Externally, Tindall clearly couldn’t care less about being popular. But when it comes to those around him, perception matters. He values the extent to which he is trusted by Howe and his fellow coaches. He works hard to cultivate a close relationship with the players. And as the Wham tee-shirt that seemed to get under Villa’s skin in December proves, he cherishes the esteem in which he is held by the Newcastle fans. ‘This year, to save me from tears. I’ll give it to Jason Tindall…’
“How would I want to be remembered for my time at Newcastle? Just for being me,” said Tindall, who first encountered Howe as a Bournemouth team-mate, and whose only managerial job on his own ended unsuccessfully when he was sacked at Weymouth in 2008.
“People judge me in many different ways. People that don’t know me will write and will say things, but as I say, I’m just myself. The staff, the players and everyone will tell you that. So just to be me and to be part of a successful period at Newcastle United.
“The only thing that I’m interested in is doing the best I can for the football club. That’s day to day in the training ground, and it’s about preparations and being the best assistant I can for the manager. Then it’s also being the best I can in the role I do for the players.
“However people talk about me – and obviously I’ve got no control over that – that’s up to them. But as long as I’m true to myself, as long as I’m myself and I don’t try to be anyone different, then that’s all I’m concerned about.”
