Two days earlier, the Newcastle United boss had felt dreadful as his side played Leicester City at the King Power Stadium, but he battled his way through the game and attributed his ill health to a bug. Get home, have a couple of tablets, sleep it off. Everyone gets ill.
This felt different though. As an avowed workaholic, Howe was up at the crack of dawn as usual, into the shower and ready to head to Newcastle’s Darsley Park training ground. Suddenly, though, the realisation hit him. He couldn’t go. His body was aching everywhere, and for the first time in his lengthy managerial career, even his mind was giving up on him. Training was scheduled for later that morning, but Howe was heading back to bed. Something was badly wrong.
“I took the Leicester game, but I felt awful,” said Howe. “I’d planned to come back into training in preparation for the Manchester United game, but I got out of bed, had a shower and then while I was going through the process of, ‘Right, I’ve got to go’, I couldn’t. Something was telling me, ‘No, you need to get back to bed’. That was the moment that things changed.
“The symptoms were strange because there was no massive standout symptom. That was probably what made it difficult to push for help initially. I just wanted to sleep. I did have a fever and quite a high temperature, but you just think it’s something that you’ll sleep off.
“It didn’t really change, but it was just a real feeling of being way off where I’d normally be when I’m fit and healthy. Then, later on, other things come along with pneumonia. It affected my chest and my ability to breathe normally.”
RECOMMENDED READING:
Initially, though, the feeling was that Howe would be missing for a couple of days but back in the dugout to preside over the home match against Manchester United. When Jason Tindall stepped in at the Friday press conference ahead of the game, the message coming out of Newcastle was that Howe would be fine by the weekend.
Instead, his condition continued to deteriorate, although it was only when Newcastle’s club doctor, Paul Catterson, insisted on carrying out a series of blood tests that the seriousness of his condition became clear.
“I’m very lucky in the job that I’m in that I have very good people I can reach out to,” said Howe. “Paul came to see me at home, and it was him taking some blood tests that highlighted what the problem was and how serious the problem was.
“Without his care, and without him wanting to come and visit me – because it wasn’t me going to him, it was him coming to me – things might have been different. That is why I consider myself very fortunate to have that. I’m talking to the general public here who don’t have that support, that they might need to be the ones to initiate that.”
With Howe’s condition now serious, he headed to hospital, where he would spend the next four nights.
“I got a lift there and just walked in normally,” he explained. “I say walked in, I probably crawled in normally. I was delighted to be there because I thought, ‘This is where I need to be to get better’. Instinctively, I sort of knew.
“That is when the staff greet you and take you, you feel a sense of relief. Then it’s a case of trying to work out what is wrong and what you need to do to get better. When you get the diagnosis, as frightening as the word pneumonia is, it is a bit of relief because you know what it is and can hopefully get the right treatment and return to normal.”
Speaking at his press conference this morning to preview this weekend’s game with Ipswich, when he will return to the dugout at St James’ Park, Howe was keen to praise the NHS staff who treated him during his spell in hospital, even if one of those looking after him was of a red-and-white persuasion rather than being a Newcastle fan.
“I think there was one Sunderland fan who snuck in,” he laughed. “I was aware of that, but at that stage I wasn’t too bothered.”
Gradually, Howe’s condition began to improve. He watched the victories over Manchester United and Crystal Palace remotely, having given Jason Tindall and Graeme Jones a pledge that he would not attempt to influence anything they were doing as they took charge of the team. Not, however, that he could have acted differently, even if he had wanted to.
“I had zero input,” he said. “I made a conscious decision when I felt I didn’t feel well enough to focus on the football to give Jason and all the coaches the full responsibility. Because for me, you’re either all in or all out. And I couldn’t contribute.
“So, I said to Jason right at the start, it’s over to you, and didn’t he do well? I thought he was absolutely brilliant with Graham, Simon (Weatherstone) and Stephen (Purches) and all the coaches and players.
“I thought they were absolutely magnificent. I was able to watch all the games. I wasn’t really there mentally, but I was really proud. And so lifted by the performances.”
Howe returned to training on Wednesday, not quite back to 100 per cent physically, by his own admission, but mentally ready for the challenge of leading his side through the final five games of the season.
The experiences of the last fortnight haven’t changed him, but they have given him a fresh perspective on his life balance and reinforced the extent to which he feels privileged to be Newcastle’s head coach.
“I don’t envisage too much change,” he said. “What I do envisage changing, from my perspective, is just a little bit more care towards myself, a little bit more thought towards what I am doing.
“I do believe I lead a really healthy lifestyle, so there’s no issue there. I don’t have to change anything in that respect – it’s maybe more a case of just giving myself a little bit more love if I can.”
