Eddie Howe is a candidate to replace Michael Carrick at Man United if the head coach is sacked, a prospect many supporters are uneasy about.

"If they want a quick game coming here, let's f****** give it to them," fizzed Eddie Howe in the St. James' Park dressing room when Manchester United visited Newcastle three years ago.

United had just beaten Newcastle in the Carabao Cup final, and Howe relayed Erik ten Hag's pre-match comments that his team were "annoying" to play against because of their game management.

Howe urged his players to "blow" United away with their "running, speed and intensity" and they rose to the challenge, suffocating the red shirts with an aggressive press and winning every second ball with brute physicality.

If you ask United fans how they want their team to play, most will talk about the characteristics that Howe's Newcastle team were built on, yet the majority of supporters are against him potentially replacing Michael Carrick.

There is a clamour for a bigger name and Antonio Conte would be the preference for many, but it would be a surprise to see Ineos appoint a spiky manager who has picked fights with every board he's worked under.

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The fact that Howe would not rock the boat is a black mark against him for some fans. The reality is that Howe may not be an exciting option, but he is the best plausible appointment out there.

Conte does not feel realistic due to his volatile nature, while it would take a compensation package of around £20million to prise Unai Emery away from Aston Villa, and Julian Nagelsmann would be more of a risk for a team that is currently just one point above the Premier League's relegation zone.

Howe, on the other hand, has crucial Premier League experience and a record of dragging clubs forward. Just ask the Bournemouth and Newcastle fans.

Howe first took over at Bournemouth when they were languishing at the bottom of League Two following a 17-point deduction. They were on the cusp of dropping out of the Football League, but he steered them to safety.

He returned to Bournemouth for a second stint and guided them to promotion from League One to the Championship and then to the Premier League, one of England's biggest coaching success stories.

Howe inherited a Newcastle team at a low point in November 2021. The Magpies were second from the bottom, five points from safety and had yet to win a match in all competitions.

Newcastle went on to finish 11th, becoming the first team in Premier League history to avoid relegation after not winning any of the first 14 games they had played, but it's what Howe did after keeping Newcastle in the division that makes him a candidate to replace Carrick.

Howe guided Newcastle into the Champions League on two occasions and won the Carabao Cup in 2024/25, beating Liverpool at Wembley to claim Newcastle's first domestic trophy in 70 years. Because of Howe, a club that had become synonymous with losing finally became winners.

One of the biggest arguments against Howe is that he does not seem like someone who could guide United to the Premier League title, with critics pointing to the ceiling he supposedly reached at Newcastle.

The common misconception is that Howe reached his limit at Newcastle, that he took the North East club as far as his ability would allow, but the opposite is true - it was Newcastle's ceiling that held him back.

Howe built an exceptional team and may have been able to challenge for a title if the Premier League's financial constraints had allowed him to continue to strengthen, rather than forcing him to lose his best players.

Newcastle's team of Alexander Isak (Liverpool), Bruno Guimarães (Arsenal), Anthony Gordon (Barcelona) and Sandro Tonali (Tottenham) were formidable, but their talent was maximised by Howe.

They even beat Paris Saint-Germain 4-1 in the Champions League. "Those are difficult games to live through," Luis Enrique said after that game. "I sincerely think the result is a bit unfair, but not totally. Congratulations to Newcastle, they played very good football."

That night was an example of what Howe can do with talented players at his disposal. And, interestingly, he wanted to sign Bryan Mbeumo, Matheus Cunha and Benjamin Sesko while he was in charge at Newcastle.

Reservations from United fans are understandable given Howe is not a 'sexy appointment', but his style of play would be a hit, as supporters want to see their team on the front foot and pressing the opponent into mistakes.

These are characteristics that Howe would implement at United. There would be no confusion about what he is trying to do, no question marks about players knowing their jobs.

The valid concerns about Howe potentially being appointed at United are about whether he could handle the pressure, and the fact that Newcastle dropped off domestically in the seasons they were competing in the Champions League, finishing seventh and 12th.

There was eventually a conversation around whether Howe's intense style could be effective with a team balancing Premier League and Champions League fixtures. "Intensity is our identity," was his mantra, but inconsistency was his team's identity by the end.

There were mitigating factors, namely Howe losing his best players and Newcastle failing to sign suitable replacements, but he needs to prove his style can be translated to the top level, and United are not a club where managers have the time to experiment.

Howe was emotionally drained by the end of his Newcastle tenure, to the point that he felt he could no longer continue, which is why he decided to step down after initially believing he could go on.

Howe was asked by Newcastle to essentially start from scratch over the summer. They sold his best players and replaced them with unproven, young signings. Not many managers would have the stomach to start again, nor should they.

There needs to be an honest conversation about where United find themselves as a club in 2026 because talk of winning the title is fanciful. They are miles away from it.

Every time United qualify for the Champions League, they drop out of it. To actually mount a title challenge, they must first consolidate as a proper Champions League club again, which means consistently finishing in the top four. With more resources at United than he was given at Newcastle - by virtue of the club generating more revenue due to its global standing, not generous owners - Howe has a record that suggests he could achieve just that.

And from there, who knows? Maybe he could be the man to lead the club to a title. Maybe he couldn't, but he could lay the foundations needed to challenge for the title.

All great teams need to be built on a solid platform, and Howe would bring that to United. At the very least.