Although Anthony Gordon left Everton to join Newcastle United in January 2023, his time on Tyneside did not start off well.
Anthony Gordon joined the Magpies for £45 million in the middle of the season after leaving the Toffees, but his performance in the second half of the campaign did not live up to Newcastle’s expenditure for the youthful winger.
Even after he was substituted, there was an incident where his attitude was questioned after a confrontation with manager Eddie Howe on the touchline.
Many people questioned if Newcastle had made the right decision after witnessing Gordon’s obvious disrespect for the management. Football fans were already well aware of his volatility.
If the Brentford event had been handled poorly, the outcome might have been drastically different.
Eddie Howe dismissed that incident fairly swiftly, and Gordon went on to contribute to Newcastle’s charge into the Premier League’s top four.
With that incident firmly in the past, Gordon has excelled this season, building on an outstanding England U21 tournament in which he not only helped the Young Lions win the trophy but also earned himself some personal recognition by winning Player of the Tournament.
The 24-year-old is now eligible to travel to the Euro 2024 tournament in Germany after Gareth Southgate called him up to the England squad for the forthcoming friendlies against Brazil and Belgium as a reward for his efforts for Newcastle this season.
Anthony Gordon quickly praised Eddie Howe for helping him along in his career and bringing him to this stage while speaking to the media from the England camp. He also talked about the situation at Brentford that was previously stated and the way it was handled.
“I believe it’s just that he understands me, and he has excellent man-management skills. I was a young man at the time of the Brentford event, and I believe he simply knew what I needed at the moment.
He’s very driven and I think he saw that fire in me. It’s not a terrible thing; it just needs some supervision, especially at such a young age. I’m pretty passionate, and he’s the same. I’m very grateful that he was my manager at the time since he was the ideal person to mentor me.
“He’s guided me into being a much more mature, level-headed person but also keeping that fire and keeping that motivation.”
Whatever was spoken between them obviously had an effect since Anthony Gordon hasn’t turned around since.