Eddie Howe hits back at Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp for ‘not totally accurate’ Newcastle United jibe

Eddie Howe has hit back at Jurgen Klopp after the Liverpool boss ranted about Newcastle United’s spending power.

Klopp sarcastically congratulated the Magpies after sporting director Dan Ashworth said there is “no ceiling” in terms of the club’s ambition under their Saudi Arabian-backed owners.

The German said: “There are three clubs in world football who can do what they want financially. It’s legal and everything, fine, but they can do what they want. They will say ‘yeah but we have...’ but it’s exactly the fact.

“I heard now that at Newcastle somebody said ‘there is no ceiling for this club’. Yes! He is right. He is absolutely right. There is no ceiling for Newcastle. Congratulations, but other clubs have ceilings.”

Howe, who usually stays clear of a war of words, feels he has to “stand up” for Newcastle when “ one or two comments might not be totally accurate”.

"It’s a difficult one because it’s probably been used in the wrong way,” the Magpies head coach said. “What Dan (Ashworth) meant with his comment was there’s no ceiling to our ambition long-term.

“We have huge plans and want to go to places with huge ambitions but the reality of what we are working towards and working with, there is a ceiling because of all the things I have sat here and explained every week: Financial Fair Play, we’re still in a training ground that’s been renovated...We’re not living that life that is being discussed. We are living a very different reality. Our wage bill is very controlled. We’re trying to do things in a very stable and controlled way.

“Although we have spent money on players, it has not been extravagant or out of sync with the rest of the Premier League. Everyone has to be careful with their comments and opinions."

Howe also went on to say: “I try not to spend too much time thinking about it. I’m just aware that one or two comments might not be totally accurate. That’s when I have to stand up for us.”

Does Klopp and comments from other outsiders frustrate Howe? “No. I don’t spend my time worrying about it,” he repiled. “When you know the reality, when you know the truth of what we’ve done, certainly since I’ve been here, I can only speak on my behalf and we’ve tried to do things in a very controlled way.

“Certainly the club could have gone a totally different way. I’m sure, with the takeover and everything that come with that, and everything that was talked about,  but we’ve done it in the opposite way. We’ve done it in a very cool, calm way.

“Our wage bill has been very controlled. We haven’t splashed the money maybe people thought we would have done initially. Yes, the ambition is huge in the long-term but in the short term we are trying to improve everything we deliver for our players and we are still working towards that. We are a long long way from where we want to be.”