Newcastle United players and staff are 'deathly silent' in the canteen at the training ground. It is a couple of days before the final home game of last season against Arsenal and Wor Flags are giving a presentation to their heroes about the cost and time that goes into each display. These four supporters have not been invited to speak to the group for the fun of it; this has all been carefully planned as group member Thomas Concannon explained.
"Eddie Howe told us he was looking at ways to keep the players inspired and keep their minds focused until the end of the season," Concannon recalled to ChronicleLive. "He thought it was a really good fit to get us in and have a chat with the players and meet them. It was all his idea to keep things fresh for the team."
It certainly kept things fresh, all right. Newcastle, inspired by the electric atmosphere Wor Flags helped to create, went on to defeat a spooked Arsenal 2-0. Clearly, no side enjoys coming to St James' Park anymore; in fact, no team relishes facing the Magpies full stop as Spurs found to their cost at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium last month.
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Much has been made by outsiders of the amount of money Newcastle's owners have spent on new signings - around £210m to date - but that ignores the sterling job Howe and his staff have done. There is work to do yet, of course, but they have taken a winless side who were bottom of the table a year ago into the top four just 12 months later. That is a sentence worth repeating.
Few quietly embody Newcastle's turnaround like centre-back Fabian Schar, an inherited player, who was out in the cold in the final weeks of Steve Bruce's reign. Schar has been an ever-present under Howe ever since the 44-year-old was appointed and the Switzerland international is well-placed to comment on how the Newcastle boss has 'changed everything'. As far as Schar is concerned, the 'feeling in the team, the mentality, is completely different'.
"That's what makes it so special for me because I'm the type of player who needs the confidence from the gaffer," he told ChronicleLive. "When he walked in and spoke to me, the feeling was so different.
"The confidence he gave me was huge and my game changed from that point. Now, all the things he does for the team - the training, everything you see - is so much easier. I'm just enjoying it."
So what exactly has changed? Well, the work ethic and culture at the training ground, for one. It sounds so obvious, but Newcastle now train the way they play with a series of high intensity exercises designed with match day very much in mind. The start of the week, in particular, is especially demanding with long sessions and it has taken some new signings time to adjust to the intensity of the drills as much as the pace and physicality of Premier League games.
Each session is fresh and meticulously planned, and the players are aware of what is going to be worked on the second they see the schedule on the big screens in the training ground when they walk in. A different topic is tackled each day and drip fed throughout the week, whether it is game review, in possession work, out of possession drills or set-pieces.
Such is the level of detail, and clarity, the players feel well-prepared and have a 'good feeling' going into games because of the preparatory work Howe and his staff do. To a man, the group have long noticed how Howe is on his laptop on the coach or flight home from away games reviewing what his side could have done better before the next match - even after a win. The Newcastle boss has led from the front when it comes to creating that infectious hard-working culture as, without fail, the first one in at the training ground each morning.
No wonder the players all know their jobs. The same goes for Howe's staff, too, who all have their own individual responsibilities and 'work like a big family' in the words of Schar. The staff often coach the players in small groups - assistant Jason Tindall, for example, will take the back four aside - and they have been able to get Howe's message across even quicker since coming in nearly a year ago. Tindall, first-team coaches Stephen Purches and Simon Weatherstone, and head of performance Dan Hodges all know how Howe works and have long earned his trust so the Newcastle boss made it 'very clear' they came as a package before he was appointed.
The quintet and the coaches Howe inherited, such as number two Graeme Jones, have helped bring an already tight-knit group closer together. Take the timeline sessions on Fridays, which have seen players and staff occasionally choke up after learning something they did not know about a colleague, whether it is a tough upbringing or a close family member who died.
Names are plucked out of a hat to decide who steps up and Howe, himself, has been among those to get up and speak about his journey. The players, as a result, have been even more willing to push for one another come match day according to former defender Federico Fernandez.
"Eddie implemented a few things so you can know each other better rather than just coming into the dressing room, training and going home," Fernandez told ChronicleLive. "Every two or three weeks, some players do a presentation about their life, where they come from, their family and stuff.
"To be honest, there have been a few interesting things because, sometimes, you are not open at all to these kinds of things. Players got emotional when they spoke about their family. It was a nice moment between us. You knew more about your team-mate next to you."
Fernandez was one of those individuals who had an 'open and honest' relationship with Howe as a member of his leadership group and the Newcastle boss has made a point of regularly sitting down with his players to explain big calls. Bruno Guimaraes and Sven Botman are among those who have appreciated that personal touch after they were eased in following their big-money moves from France.
On the subject of man management, staff took note of how the level-headed Howe had the knack of saying the right thing at the right time in the dressing room. After conceding a late equaliser against Watford at St James' last season, for instance, Howe did not scream; however, when Newcastle lost 5-1 at Spurs a few months later, the players saw a different side to him in the days after.
Howe's ability to stay calm in the moment, whether Newcastle are bottom or fourth, has been ideal for what has historically been an emotional club. Rather than taking the plaudits, himself, the Magpies boss has been at pains to give his players and staff credit and the team photographs taken after victories have only strengthened that sense of togetherness. The club's nutritionist, as a result, feels just as much a part of a win as the goalscorer on the day.
"What you see is what you get with Eddie," a senior source at the club told ChronicleLive. "He's very detail driven.
"How many times has he spoken about unity and how you can only achieve if everyone's in it together? That's an ethos that isn't just present from a football point of view - that's the same message from the very top."
That unity has been crucial to Newcastle's turnaround and it has been felt throughout the club. Howe has even kept an eye on the next generation, watching the under-sevens train on a Friday night back in September, for example. As well as looking at those youngsters coming through, the Newcastle boss has also tapped into the club's past.
Former players did not feel quite so welcome in the Ashley era, but Howe has personally invited Alan Shearer to address the group while the Newcastle boss spoke to Kevin Keegan before he was officially appointed to try and get a greater understanding of the club. Howe even gave a talk to his players earlier this season where the 44-year-old used footage from the Entertainers era to draw a connection with the club's past as he challenged the squad to create their own history.
Among those figures from that period who have been welcomed to the training ground is Shaka Hislop, a team-mate of Howe's at Portsmouth, and the former Newcastle goalkeeper 'could not speak highly enough' of his visit.
"That embracing of the club's history is important," Hislop told ChronicleLive. "So much of football is about results, wins and losses, relegation and finishing in Europe and how much players make. What goes underappreciated and unrecognised is the history of clubs and how they have impacted the game. Eddie has certainly embraced that."
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