Eddie Howe rules himself out of running for Manchester United vacancy and says he is happy at Newcastle

Eddie Howe has ruled himself out of the race to become the next manager of Manchester United and claimed he is “very happy” at Newcastle.

Howe is known to have his admirers at Old Trafford but is not thought to be on the shortlist to replace Ruben Amorim, who was sacked yesterday after 14 largely miserable months in charge. Under-18s coach Darren Fletcher will take charge for tomorrow night’s game at Burnley before United seek to appoint an interim boss until the end of the season.

Howe has a strong relationship with Newcastle’s Saudi Arabian owners and says he has no desire to leave Tyneside at the moment with Newcastle currently ninth in the Premier League table.

“No, not at this current time,” he said this morning ahead of tomorrow night’s home game with Leeds. “The most important thing for me is happiness in the role, happiness in the job. The relationships I have with the people around me.

“Now, that’s not always been consistently good and things can change at any football club. But, at the moment, I am very happy. We have made some great appointments in the roles we needed to fill and as long as I can express myself in the best way possible, the best version of myself to help the players and the club [I’ll stay].

“Because ultimately, for any club to be successful, there has to be unity from top to bottom and a good feeling between everybody. I’ve had an unbelievable relationship with the board here since I’ve come to the football club and that’s never changed.”

I consider myself very lucky – Newcastle boss Howe

He added: “I consider myself very lucky to have that because there are very few managers that have the time to build those relationships and to have the confidence and trust with each other. I think that is really important and if you have all those things, you have a higher chance of being successful.

“There is no guarantee, but you have a higher chance if those relationships are working. I’m very happy and I hope that continues for a long time.”

It has been a turbulent few days in the Premier League with Enzo Maresca departing Chelsea last week to be replaced this morning by Liam Rosenior, and Amorim also getting his marching orders.

Howe has been at St James’ Park for over four years, overseeing a heavy period of spending that finally resulted in the club’s first piece of domestic silverware for over 70 years in the shape of the EFL Cup last season.

He said: “I laugh because longevity is such a strange one because you don’t set out to have a timeline, you set out to win games. It’s always the next game, then the next. You are working week to week and game to game.

“Of course you have to have a longer-term vision and you have to plan well. You have to see what your team looks like in the future.

“You have to have good relationships around you. You have to have good relationships with the players. You have to have a mixture of all those things. That has led me to this point now and at my previous job [at Bournemouth].

“I don’t know whether longevity is going out of the game in the role that I am in; somebody might tell me some stats that contradict that.

“It feels more difficult to stay in one place for a long time because I think attention spans and appetites for seeing the same person all the time, is less attractive these days.”