Eddie Howe admitted he spent “half an hour” laughing with Newcastle assistant manager Jason Tindall over his recently-found viral fame for stealing the limelight.
With Newcastle chasing a place in next season’s Champions League, Tindall has caught widespread attention for his pitchside antics.
The Magpies coach has gone viral, with an entire Twitter account dedicated to his outward displays of emotion during games, called ‘Jason Tindall desperate to be centre of attention’, which has gained almost 42,000 followers.
When posed the question of his assistant in a press conference before Newcastle’s trip to Leeds on Saturday, Howe said: “It’s a funny one. I’ve spent the last half an hour laughing with him about certain things… and certain things he’s been sent.
“It’s crazy how the internet and social media can create these things.
“I think to understand these things, role is to go back to where we started, it gives you a little bit of context to the reason he’s in those situations.
“We started with no money, no facilities, working with a group of players, and it was just the two of us and we did everything together. You name it, we did it.
“We travelled to watch the opposition five hours away in the car together just us and we’ve never changed that approach throughout our journey together.”
During his playing career, Tindall played almost 200 games for Bournemouth before hanging up his boots in 2011.
He has worked consistently alongside Howe since 2012, other than a brief spell in charge at the south coast club in 2020-21 following the departure of his boss after a second period in charge of the Cherries, which lasted eight years.
The club have even got in on the act, tweeting out a picture of Tindall with a goat emoji.
In a jovial interview with CBS Sports, Howe was asked about his assistant manager’s “eye for the camera”.
“That’s something we’ve not ever talked about really. We’re both really active on the sidelines and I’ve encouraged Jason to be that way,” Howe said.
“We were very much a partnership when we both started in management and we tried to do everything we can to take the players out.
“I think we’re situated together on the front there and at the end of the game he naturally makes his way over because he’s usually to my left.
“But he’s a great guy and he’s been brilliant for me this year.”
