Newcastle United coach Jason Tindall admits that the Magpies' rise to the Champions League will cause "jealousy" in the football world from rival clubs and fans.
Tindall has been the target of Twitter trolls in recent weeks but has thanked Geordie fans for showing him some love as United rose to the Champions League spots. Yet Tindall, who ended up featuring on Twitter accounts such as Borussia Dortmund and Athletic Bilbao as part of a social media surge to prominence, says he will simply shrug off talk that he tried to hog the limelight from Eddie Howe.
Tindall was the first to pay tribute to Howe and made it clear that the hard work at United starts with the Toon boss. The assistant manager actually was in charge for the first game of the Howe era in the 3-3 draw against Brentford when the ex-Bournemouth chief went down with Covid and watched from his hotel room.
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Since then Howe and his backroom team have plotted an escape from relegation and a successful Champions League chase. Tindall told Chronicle Live: "You certainly could not write a movie about it. If you think for one moment that this would be our journey from Brentford in that first game, you just couldn't.
"It has come a lot sooner than we thought it would. Everybody has played their part in different ways. It doesn't just happen on a match day. There's a lot of work going on behind the scenes which gets us to this point.
"Everyone works hard. No more so than the manager, the end result is the performance that everybody sees. We come out at St James' Park and perform the way we do with the intensity that we do. The attacking side of football that we want to play.
"If you ask anybody if they are happy where Newcastle are now in this city they are just as happy as us."
When asked about that Twitter account, the man nicknamed 'Mad Dog' told reporters: "How it comes around I am not too sure. I did nothing different to what I've done in the last 15 years we have been together. But there is a lot of hate in football and people who like to hate. "There's a lot of jealousy but I think it is a testament to Newcastle.
"A lot of people don't like the fact that Newcastle are challenging at the top of the Premier League, they don't like the fact Newcastle are now going to the Champions League. They've got to take it out on somebody and they've taken it out on me, but I take it with a pinch of salt.
"I've got thick skin, I laugh at it. I laugh at what gets said to me. But I have to compliment Newcastle fans because during that period they showed me a lot of love, and I thank them for that."
It is only 18 months since Tindall stood in the dugout without Howe for that pulsating draw with Brentford when Newcastle dropped to the bottom of the table. Just 548 days later they are a Champions League club.
Tindall said: "It is an amazing achievement for Newcastle to be in the Champions League. If you'd have said to us 18 months ago, Newcastle would be a Champions League club I don't think anybody would have believed you - us included.
"At the start of the season if you'd have said we'd get there with one fixture remaining, we certainly would not believe it. That's a testament to everybody, it has been an incredible journey.
"It's a testament to every single staff member, the players and also the fans. Here at St James' Park have played a huge part in the success we've had and the journey we've been on - we are very thankful to that."
And despite the taunts of Tindall taking centre stage, he made it clear that there is only one man who deserves the plaudits.
Former Bournemouth star Tindall said: "Eddie has been incredible. I don't think he gets the plaudits he deserves in terms of being up there. He is up there with the best managers currently, to achieve what we have achieved at Newcastle and to do what he's done is a fantastic achievement.
"You can go back to when we started the journey at Bournemouth, we started in League Two, the journey we went on there to the Premier League and to now come to Newcastle, a team fighting relegation, to be in the Champions League and third in the Premier, it's testament to him. He's the leader of the group and nobody deserves it more."
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