Tears of a clown | OneFootball

I love to study the way Eddie Howe conducts himself and this season has been fascinating.

At one point I have questioned if he is the man to take us forward to the next level.

We had a good pre-season but seemed to struggle for form at the start of the season. Some great results glossed over indifferent performances.

The players weren’t hitting the highs they are capable of and then we got on a bad run with West Ham and Brentford taking the points.

During the season, Eddie had always been honest with his assessment of our games, never blaming anyone or anything.

He constantly talks about creating an atmosphere in which the players can perform. It is human nature to feel productive in a comfortable environment.

The starter in a school lesson is vital in making the kids relaxed and ready to perform. Eddie gets that.

He has bonds with his players and with the fans. His man management is outstanding.

In the same way a kid will love science or maths because of the teacher, our players love playing for NUFC because of their educator. The players are relaxed with Eddie Howe. They can try things and if it doesn’t work he’ll be there on the sideline encouraging them.

He cares and he gets it. He knows how to manage his players. He openly admitted changing the midfield system to improve our play, accepting he needed to change things.

Anyway, back to Brentford and this is where Eddie Howe has answered my question.

He didn’t accept defeat. He didn’t think he could just do the same and expect different results. There were individual meetings 1:1 with every player. No shouting, no crying, just a discussion. “Give me more, give your teammates more.”

And Eddie demanded more of himself too – getting the right players in the right position as he put it. And look at the results. These past seven games are unparalleled in my lifetime, 50+ years and I’ve seen nowt like it.

Yeah, we’ve had the odd away win but to clean up manyoo, Villa, Spurs and now Arsenal, is quite simply ground breaking for us. Incredible.

So now it’s time to bring on the clown.

The clown who on Netflix is there shouting at his players for letting him down.

The clown who creates a repressive atmosphere on the sidelines with his ridiculous histrionics.

Who can perform in that atmosphere? The only answer is to blame, never to think or accept or change. Shouting only gets you so far with anyone. As the volume increases, the respect erodes. Look how frightened his players were on Tuesday at the Emirates, particularly the centre-backs. That’s down to his man management and what he transmits to his players. And long may it continue.