Manager’s notes: Howe using piano to switch off from Newcastle demands

Eddie Howe at Newcastle training this week. ‘I back myself, my abilities and my qualities,’ he says. Photograph: Serena Taylor/Newcastle United/Getty Images

Eddie Howe has said that playing the piano has helped him to relax during an often stressful season at Newcastle by briefly diverting his focus from football.

“I was tinkling the ivories last night,” the manager said on Friday. “When I’m playing I’m not thinking of 4-3-3 or 4-4-2; it’s a rare moment for me to do that – a chance to get away from football.