Eddie Howe has revealed his impressive first impressions of Newcastle United’s players when he took charge last year, and told of the crucial early one-to-one conversations as he set about masterminding survival.

Ahead of the World Cup stoppage, Howe was fielding questions on whether his side are in the Premier League title race after a quite stunning start to the season, a far cry from the position United found themselves in when the former Bournemouth boss took charge in November last year.

Newcastle were 19th in the table after 11 games and five points adrift of safety when Howe got the job, but he says he immediately realised there was enough talent in the dressing room – and more importantly, the attitude was right, with players willing to embrace new ideas and to learn and improve.

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“I found a really hard working group of players, a group of players who wanted to do well, a group of players who wanted to be coached, which surprised me,” Howe told The High Performance Podcast.

Asked why he was surprised by the dressing room desire to be coached, Howe said: “Coaching can be delicate with experienced players and there were a lot of experienced players in the squad. That goes one of two ways, it's either they want to be left alone to play or they want to know how you can make them better. I was so, so pleased it was the latter, it was ‘How do you make me better, what can you do for me and my career?’ A lot of the players were like that and that gave us a great starting point.

“I saw a lot of talented payers and good lads, lads who wanted to do well. There were no problems with discipline, and away we went.”

Howe also set about getting to know his players as people, scheduling one to one chats with every member of the squad.

He explained: “The first thing you need to do is get the players on side. I was very lucky that I had three players I worked with previously in Callum Wilson, Matt Ritchie and Ryan Fraser. Relationships are really important in the early stages. We could speak to them and they could speak to the other players to give them an understanding of how we work and what's to come.

“I did one on ones with everyone to start with, I think that's really important. I knew three of the players but didn't know anyone else, so it was a case of get to know the player, their families, I wanted to know everything about them, a little bit about their history and how they ended up here and then how I could help them and where they saw their career going.

“I'm all for the team and want the team to do really well but the best way for that to happen is for the individual to excel. If I can try and improve those 25 players, the team and the club will never look back. It's a step by step approach and that’s how it's always been.”

It isn’t only Howe who learns about the life and story of his players, he wants it to be shared with teammates.

He explains: “There's always a story. We have a weekly system or once every two weeks now where one player from the squad will tell their story.

“One of the first things I did was tell mine. I thought if this is something we're going to do, I have to lead from the front and tell mine. So you go back and you tell things that you think are relevant and what people need to know. We've had some brilliant talks and you find out so much stuff.

“I believe it brings you closer together. You can hear a pin drop. The players are all very respectful and understand it will be their turn at some point.”

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