He worked for 38 years at the club and served 32 different managers, but Eddie Howe's arrival and the takeover were unique moments
(Image credit: Getty Images)
He joined the Magpies backroom team way back in 1984 but even Newcastle United's head physio Derek Wright had never witnessed scenes like he saw when the club were taken over in October 2021.
"It felt like a volcano erupting," explains Wright to FourFourTwo. Positivity swept over everyone, not just the fans celebrating with their cans.
He had been in a sombre Newcastle United dugout five days prior to the takeover. A lacklustre 2-1 defeat away at Wolves saw Newcastle slump to second-bottom in the table, but less than a week later Newcastle's world changed completely.
"We’d struggled at the start of last season, not so much down to bad performances, tactics or anything like that but all that takeover talk was weighing heavily on all of us.
“Everyone knew for a long time that Mike Ashley was looking to sell up and it meant, we were just trundling along through no particular fault of anyone on the football side of things.
“Like our supporters, the backroom staff and the players wanted something to happen and those times when nothing materialised, there was a collective feeling of disappointment.”
FourFourTwo photoshoot with Eddie Howe taken during his Bournemouth days (Image credit: Future)
A month later, Eddie Howe walked through the door at the Training Centre for day one as Newcastle United manager. The sun had yet to come up and Wright, who was always one of the first to arrive, had been beaten in to the office.
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“I’m a creature of habit and for years I would arrive at the training ground bang on 7.30am but he was always there before me. It was the same in the afternoons. I was among the last to leave but Eddie always left after me.”
Wright departed the club last summer on good terms, Eddie Howe had been his 38th manager and his impact upon arrival was immediate.
"I was used to seeing managers come and go but the way Eddie turned things around was reminiscent of when Kevin Keegan arrived.
“Eddie came in at a unique time in the club’s history and was able to ride that wave of positivity but that’s to take nothing away from the job he did.
“Everyone knew Newcastle United was about to take off and he did more than anyone to make that happen.
“He was incredibly positive in his own right, very thorough, very diligent and very hard-working."
(Image credit: Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images)
Wright had been considering retirement before the takeover was approved, and explained the situation to his new boss. Howe told him he was under no pressure to leave and that he could carry on as long as he wanted.
"That was very much appreciated even though he couldn’t change my mind. In the past year, he has messaged me a couple of times and invited me back for lunch. He really couldn’t have been any nicer.
"I’d been thinking of going for a couple of years. My knees aren’t what they once were and I didn’t want to stay just because I’d become part of the furniture. It was the right decision to go even though the club was taking off."
Ketch joined FourFourTwo as Deputy Editor in 2022 having racked up appearances at Reach PLC as a Northern Football Editor and BBC Match of the Day magazine as their Digital Editor and Senior Writer. During that time he has interviewed the likes of Harry Kane, Sergio Aguero, Gareth Southgate and attended World Cup and Champions League finals. He co-hosts a '90s football podcast called ‘Searching For Shineys’, is a Newcastle United season ticket holder and has an expensive passion for collecting classic football shirts.
