Former Liverpool and Newcastle United attacker John Barnes feels Eddie Howe could yet be fired this season.
In an unusual outburst, the England veteran claimed that going overboard with Carabao Cup celebrations is not what “champions do” ahead of a big weekend in the city.
On Saturday, hundreds will line the streets to witness the open-top bus parade.
The squad will then retire to Town Moor for a massive event to continue their trophy celebrations. Newcastle haven’t won domestic cutlery in 70 years, so expect a seismic crowd.
Eddie Howe did what Sir Bobby Robson, Kevin Keegan, and Alan Shearer could not by defeating Liverpool at Wembley on March 16. Barnes, too, failed to win a trophy despite being part of the team that reached the 1998 FA Cup final.
Fast forward to the present day, and the 61-year-old, best remembered for his time at Liverpool, is spoiling the Carabao Cup celebrations. Barnes also suggested that Howe may be fired if Newcastle loses all of their remaining games.
“The best teams and players make winning a habit,” he said. “You have to be consistent if you want to be a top player or a top football club. Whereas if a player thinks ‘We’ve won a trophy, I can relax now’, they’re just going to rest on their laurels and lose every game between now and the end of the season.
“What big players and champions do is recognise they’ve won, then continue to give 100 per cent and forget about it. Of course, at the end of the season, or at the end of your career, you may look back and say well you’ve won. But some people want to win the trophy in March and then forget the rest of the season.
“If Eddie Howe is going to lose every game between now and the end of the season, I think he’d get the sack. I don’t think he’d be happy if that happened just because he won a trophy.Newcastle would like to think they could challenge for fourth spot and they have done for the last two or three years.”
To further diminish Newcastle’s victory, Barnes dismissed notions that the Carabao Cup may be used as a “springboard” for success. He continued: “Is winning the Carabao Cup a springboard? I do not believe this is the case.
“I don’t think had they not won, they wouldn’t have been challenging. Your league form is really a springboard for you to challenge either to win the league or to be regularly in the top four.
“Winning the cup doesn’t mean all of a sudden in the league you’re going to be winning the league or finishing first or second. It’s a feel-good factor that it brings to the city, to the club.
“If they celebrate too much, they may not win too many matches. But I don’t think all of a sudden they’re going to be winning the league because they won the Carabao Cup.”
