Eddie Howe has warned that individual success should never come 'at the expense of the team' at Newcastle United after Anthony Gordon apologised for his angry reaction to being substituted.
There were just a few seconds left in last Saturday's 2-1 win at the Gtech Community Stadium when Gordon went down holding his ankle following a collision with Rico Henry so Howe decided to take the substitute off and throw on the experienced Matt Ritchie. It was not a reflection of Gordon's performance - the mid-season signing helped change the game for the visitors when he came on when Newcastle were 1-0 down at half-time - but Howe wanted to ensure Newcastle got over the line to claim a precious three points.
Gordon was far from happy with the decision, though, as he trudged off the field, and the 21-year-old shrugged Howe off when he walked past the Newcastle boss. Howe then grabbed Gordon's arm and had a quiet word as the Brentford supporters behind the bench ironically cheered.
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Having admitted after the game that the passionate Gordon 'just needed to control his emotions in that moment', Howe has since revealed that the winger had said sorry.
"He felt the need to apologise," Howe told reporters. "Part of me understood why he acted like he did, but I didn't condone it. You don't want to see any player react like that because, suddenly, you will have a team that looks like it doesn't have the discipline that it needs.
"I made a decision based on Anthony going down holding his ankle, based on the fact there were seconds left on the clock, to try and do what I felt I needed to do to win the game. He needed to accept that and, if he had an issue, come and see me in private.
"That's how I felt he should have acted in that situation, but it's a young player learning about the game and learning about us at the same time so I've got no issue with him."
Ritchie, one of the key figures in the Newcastle dressing room, was spotted deep in conversation with Gordon after the game as the players made their way over to the away end and the mid-season signing ultimately left the field arm in arm with Howe. Gordon was then pictured front and centre and with a huge smile on his face in the traditional winning team photograph in the away dressing room afterwards.
Howe and Gordon have since had a chat and the Newcastle boss stressed once again that he had 'no issue' with a player who has trained 'really well' this week.
"He accepted he was overly emotional," Howe said. "We moved on very quickly and had a 10-15 minute conversation, where it’s really important that I help him.
"He’s a young player. He has so much talent and ability but he needs help to get to where his career should go. Fingers crossed we can work on that together."
One of Howe's 'non-negotiables', of course, is that his players put the interests of the team before their own and that togetherness has been at the heart of Newcastle's rise to third place this season. Like Gordon, any new arrivals this summer will have to buy into that spirit and Howe and the club's recruitment team will leave no stone unturned with their character checks on potential signings to ensure they won't disrupt the dressing room.
"It's vital," he added. "We've had success this year based on that one principle: the team is the most important thing. Of course, we want individuals within the team to excel and have great seasons and a number of the players have, but never at the expense of the team. That has to be at the forefront of the players' minds."
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