‘He’ll get sacked’ - John Barnes rains on Carabao Cup parade with shameful Newcastle United rant
Former Liverpool and Newcastle United forward John Barnes believes Eddie Howe could still face the sack this season.
In a bizarre rant, the England legend suggested going overboard with Carabao Cup celebrations is not what “champions do” ahead of a huge weekend in the city. Newcastle are set to be given a heroes welcome on Saturday, with thousands lining the streets to witness the open-top-bus parade.
The squad will then retreat to the Town Moor for a mammoth event to continue the trophy celebrations. A seismic crowd is expected given Newcastle have not clinched domestic silverware for 70 years.
Eddie Howe delivered what the likes of Sir Bobby Robson, Kevin Keegan and Alan Shearer could not by putting Liverpool to the sword at Wembley on March 16. Barnes, too, failed to lift silverware despite being part of the team that reached the 1998 FA Cup final.
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Fast forward to the present and the 61-year-old - best known for his time at Liverpool - is raining on the Carabao Cup parade. Barnes went as far as to suggest Howe may be sacked if Newcastle lose every remaining game.
"The best teams and players make winning a habit,” he said. “You have to be consistent if you want to be a top player or a top football club. Whereas if a player thinks ‘We’ve won a trophy, I can relax now’, they’re just going to rest on their laurels and lose every game between now and the end of the season.
“What big players and champions do is recognise they’ve won, then continue to give 100 per cent and forget about it. Of course, at the end of the season, or at the end of your career, you may look back and say well you’ve won. But some people want to win the trophy in March and then forget the rest of the season.
“If Eddie Howe is going to lose every game between now and the end of the season, I think he’d get the sack. I don’t think he’d be happy if that happened just because he won a trophy.Newcastle would like to think they could challenge for fourth spot and they have done for the last two or three years.”
To downplay Newcastle’s win further, Barnes also rubbished claims the Carabao Cup can be used as a “springboard” for success. He added: “Is winning the Carabao Cup a springboard? I don’t think that this is.
“I don’t think had they not won, they wouldn’t have been challenging. Your league form is really a springboard for you to challenge either to win the league or to be regularly in the top four.
“Winning the cup doesn’t mean all of a sudden in the league you’re going to be winning the league or finishing first or second. It’s a feel-good factor that it brings to the city, to the club.
“If they celebrate too much, they may not win too many matches. But I don’t think all of a sudden they’re going to be winning the league because they won the Carabao Cup."