Eddie Howe has defended Jason Tindall with his assistant manager ridiculed for a series of incidents this season.
Tindall has been a loyal lieutenant throughout Howe's coaching career, first becoming his second in command at Bournemouth back in January 2009. He then followed him to Burnley, before the duo returned to The Cherries, taking them to the Premier League in as Championship winners in 2014/15.
And now the 45-year-old is back with Howe as his assistant at Newcastle United, with the club on the brink of qualifying for the Champions League. But it's been his touchline antics, and not coaching expertise, that have been making headlines of late.
Tindall has been accused of being an attention-seeker, and was ridiculed this season when he appeared bang in the middle of a squad photo celebrating a win post-game. In February, he was ignored by Bournemouth boss Gary O'Ne il when he tried to shake his hand before Howe at full time- and last Sunday was mocked for rushing to embrace Mikel Arteta before the Toon Army manager had a chance to do so himself.
In January, one Twitter user changed his handle to Jason Tindall desperate to be the centre of attention , with the focus on how Tindall conducts himself on match days. It's amassed 33,800 followers, with renowned social media users Paddy Power also joining in by posting: " Newcastle ’s assistant manager when there’s a camera on the touch line" followed by a GIF of Donald Trump.
But in his pre-match press conference ahead of a trip to Leeds on Saturday, Howe dismissed suggestions the behaviour of his No 2 was an issue. And he even argued that Tindall's seat position in the dugout was why he was often first to the handshakes at the final whistle.
"We're both active on the sidelines and I've encouraged Jason to be that way," he said. "We're situated together and at the end of the game he naturally makes his way over, as he's naturally to my left."
Three points at Elland Road will all but guarantee a spot at Europe's top table for Newcastle next season, with Leeds themselves desperately needing a result in their battle to beat the drop. And Tindall isn't the only background noise relating to Howe right now, with talk over rife about Newcastle's perceived time wasting tactics.
But opposite number on Saturday, Sam Allardyce, dismissed such talk as "rubbish." He also argued that detractors like Jurgen Klopp and Erik ten Hag both did the same when their sides were leading late on in games.
